INTRODUCTION
Cannabis is a global plant. It can survive almost anywhere above near-freezing temperatures. Human consumption of it has a long and complicated history, filled with complex different meanings across multiple societies. Chinese peasants ate cannabis seeds as a staple. Southeast Asians have drunk concoctions of its leaves for centuries. Persians popularly associated preparations of it with Sufi dervishes, while legend claims that Siddhartha Gautama survived by eating just one cannabis seed per day for six years. In Uzbekistan a traditional food called guc'kand combines cannabis leaves and flowers with a variety of ingredients. Cultures from the continent of Africa initiated the concept of smoking cannabis, while Europeans were the first to carry it across the Atlantic as a fibre, stimulating its dispersal across the Americas. Most societies have made some variety of oil, medicine and fibrous products out of the plant, and ingesting it has become a culturally significant custom for many people around the world.
Despite its diverse, multi-purpose application, however, the most popular association with cannabis - at least since the mid-twentieth century - - has been as a smokable substance. Its leaf has become an iconic symbol for consumers all over the world. The plant is still criminalized in most countries, but many have been grappling with what forms of consumption, if any, should be allowed. By the 2010s recreational markets began popping up in areas where cannabis had previously been illegal, spurring numerous innovations in the way people eat and drink it. Fizzy drinks, teas, tonics, sweets, baked goods and full-course meals infused with various parts of the plant are bought and sold by millions of people every day now. This book connects various historical pathways of cannabis consumption into a global narrative to describe how the world developed a taste for this multidimensional plant.
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