
Archaeologists Identify Traces Cannabis in Ancient Jewish Shrines - lerie1982
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cannabis-found-altar-ancient-israeli-shrine-180975016/
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nsajko
The same research was discussed two days ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23387374](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23387374)

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selectionbias
My understanding is that medieval Rabbis (notably the Maimonides) explicitly
discuss cannabis consumption and its psychological effects. The plant also
gets some discussion in the Talmud but in the context of its use in fabric and
as candle wick. It is speculated that certain plants mentioned in the Torah
refer to cannabis but these strike me as a little tenuous. At the very least
the use of cannabis as an intoxicant does not seem to be explicitly mentioned
in the Torah. So I wonder, if it was commonly used for that purpose in the
ancient middle east, why little to no mention of this? I mean, there is a
mountain of detail about all the other minutiae of ancient custom.

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pochamago
For some reason I was under the impression that cannabis was a new world
plant, but apparently it hails from Asia.

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grawprog
Yeah, it grows wild in many Asian countries and in places like Japan, they're
mostly unaware the wild variety is the same as the illegal variety.

[https://soranews24.com/2014/12/03/in-hokkaido-theres-weed-
we...](https://soranews24.com/2014/12/03/in-hokkaido-theres-weed-weed-
everywhere-but-not-a-drop-to-smoke/)

And there's a reason why there's a strain called Hindu kush(or I guess any
variety called kush) it's named for the Hindu kush mountain region. It's been
a huge part of Tibetan, Nepalis and Indian culture for thousands of years.

Anyone who's interested in the cultivation of cannabis or the historical
production of hashish in thoseareas and the middle east should check out these
books

[http://www.thegreatbooksofhashish.com/](http://www.thegreatbooksofhashish.com/)

Especially if they're interested in seeing amazing photos of forests of 12
foot ganja trees in the Himalayan mountains where monks produce hash by
walking through the ganja forests and brushing their hands through the trees
to collect resin in the way they have for hundreds of years. Or seeing regions
of Afghanistan where hash production went on for at least 1000 years before
Russia and America's invasions of them essentially destroyed a millenia old
trade.

Looking at some of those photos really connects you with the near prehistoric
connection people have with cannabis in a way I haven't seen many other things
do.

It really is a great theft to humanity what's occurred in recent history with
it.

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
> the wild variety is the same as the illegal variety.

The distinction being, of course: the wild variety becomes the illegal variety
as soon as someone has it in their possession or cultivates it.

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toomanybeersies
I've always had a pet theory that Judaism (and thus Christianity and Islam)
had its roots in psilocybin mushrooms and cannabis, especially the book of
Exodus. One of my Israeli friends always jokes that the story of Moses and the
burning bush was actually about Moses smoking a joint, and if you imagine that
Moses ate magic mushrooms when he walked up Mt Sinai, the story makes a lot
more sense.

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swayvil
No doubt.

Religion basically goes.

1\. Take drugs and related stuff for fun or whatever

2\. See something impressive

3\. Cultivate your ability to use the drugs or whatever to investigate the
impressive thing more closely.

4\. Said cultivators impress the locals.

5\. Locals document the whole thing.

6\. Cultivators fall out of fashion, come into conflict with the local ruling
class or for whatever reason disappear from public view.

7\. But the documentation remains. Forming the seed of a new document-based
culture.

8\. Rulers of said culture forbid drugs and similar explorations. The scholars
become a theological ruling class.

~~~
dang
Please don't take HN threads further into religious flamewar.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

~~~
swayvil
Please don't dismiss strange conversations as flamewar. And definitely please
don't censor them.

It really inhibits our whole process of communication.

I am actually elevating religion above the usual scienceist-attitude that is
so common these days.

Try to keep an open mind.

