Pot Herb

A couple of months ago (this article was originally written in 1984) I was rummaging through the University of California Medical School Library Library in San Francisco one afternoon. I had heard that marijuana was being used in the treatment of cancer so I was checking out the medical journals to see what the MD's were doing. Well, I found out. They synthesize it and give it to cancer who are on allopathic medicines and have lost their appetites. It gives them the munchies! It's also a "miracle drug" for patients with the nausea of chemotherapy.

Having discovered this bit of enlightenment, turned to the Journal Of Psychoactive Drugs (Vol 13, #1, 1981) and found an article by Mia Tuow of Harvard University: "The Religious and Medicinal Uses of Cannabis in China, India and Tibet."

"Dig this!" sez I.

So I read the articles, copied it (and handed out hundreds of reprints) and have studied it. It turns out that several species of cannabis (Himalayan, Nepalese, Thai and others) have been used as medicinal herbs for twenty centuries at least and maybe even fifty centuries. The oldest reference in the bibliography was the Rig Veda.

The ancient physicians didn't smoke thee dried leaves. They preferred their cannabis cooked -- like brownies and tea, I thought. They used it for all metal element diseases and for excess liver Yang ailments. Stress is one of these conditions. They ate some kind of Oriental brownie, just a little bit to relax with but not enough to get high on.

Now, isn't that news!

It was reported effective for metal element diseases: those which affect the skin, mucous membranes, lungs and large intestines: like colds, pneumonia, parasites, KS and swollen lymph glands.

Checking out other sources on marijuana as an herb, I came up with a few other medicinal uses which I would like to share with you.

Headaches. A wet fresh leaf on the forehead will stop a headache. Now, I have yet to try this since I rarely get headaches. A friend tells me that any green leaf will do, pot herb or not.

Stress release. For stress release brew cannabis tea. After boiling the water let it cool down about 20 degrees F, about 2 minutes. Add a very small amount of leaf - about the size of the hole in this o - and let it steep for twenty minutes. Another frien of mine calls it "drinking a cup of relaxation."

Even at today's prices, it is not an expensive tea, and it's bettter for sick people than inhaling the smoke.

Parasites. This is the best one: it is the very best for treating dysentery, used by 2/3 of the worlds population (China and India for starts). I asked my favorite herbalist in Chinatown, San Francisco, for some cannabis seed and how he used it. He suggested it for parasites as does the Barefoot Doctors Manual, a modern compendium of classic Chinese medicine. Here is his procedure.

Take one half ounce of seeds (one heaping tablespoon) - organic please. Crush them any way you want to do it. Simmer them in 2 to 3 cups of water for one-half hour. After evaporation you wan to end up with one cup of tea. It has a rather bland taste to most people, like potato water.

Drink it up. As it works there may be a few intestinal cramps. If you use too much you might get diarrhea. Don't bother emptying your stomach first. Eat your meals as usual. One dose should do the job, but two doses may be necessary.

Since the intestine of most Americans seem to be lined with little lumps of very old food, the microscopic spore can hide inside your gut almost indefinitely. In fact it is common for people to have repeated infestations of parasites for no apparent reason. For this reason I think it would be a good idea to do cannabis seed tea once a month. According to ancient Chinese medical science the best time to do it is three days after the third quarter of the moon.

Among the cautions most Orientals use against dysentery is to boil a lot of cannabis seeds in water and skim the oil of the top of the water and use the oil to cook with. For this reason alone, tourists from America are better off eating local food rather than American food. The Chinese also cook everything. Heating food to 123 degrees F kills the dysentery bug dead. And never go to an American MD for dysentery: they do not know how to treat it.

Changing the way you eat is highly desirable. Short grain brown rice in the diet and cayenne pepper and garlic might even prevent dysentery.

OPEN SORES. Finally, I discovered that a paste of ground pot seeds was once used as a compress for healing skin lesions, eruptions and sores. Grind the seeds and cook them for about an hour until a paste forms. Smear it on the skin and wrap it up for about a few hours until the paste is dry. Do this daily, preferably in the morning. Use a fresh mixture each time.

If you are into ceremony, a votive light to the spirit-guardians of the hemp harvest is certainly in order.