Great Moments in Weed History

Cannabis in the Ancient World

05.17.2023 - By David BienenstockPlay

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The archeological evidence proving weed played a central role in ancient spiritual practices—including the Judeo-Christian tradition—is irrefutable. But just as the plant's medicinal properties have long been denied by the medical establishment, the world's "mainstream" religious scholars consistently erase this inconvenient fact.

But not Chris Bennet, a self-described “religious reformer” who has been intensively researching the ancient history of cannabis for nearly thirty years. He’s the author of five books, including Cannabis and the Soma Solution, Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible, and his latest—Cannabis: Lost Sacrament of the Ancient World—just published this month.

Chris explains how the rise of monotheism led to the earliest prohibitions against "marijuana," as a way for the authoritarian theocrats of antiquity to wage a proxy war against a wide array of older spiritual traditions that revered weed as a sacrament.

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