From: tmiller@sci.kun.nl (Todd M. Miller)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Subject: Re: Cannabis/Cannabalism
Date: 19 Aug 92 13:10:09 GMT
Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands

In <1992Aug18.060917.1359@Cadence.COM> phz@cadence.com (Pete Zakel) writes:

>In article <tmiller.713793006@camms1.caos.kun.nl> tmiller@camms2.caos.kun.nl (Todd M. Miller) writes:
>>So I have established that the Scythians were cannibals and that they used
>>cannabis.

>So?  You said the words came from the same root.  They did not.  Cannibals
>probably drank their mother's breast milk when children, also.  It's a
>meaningless connection.

Your right, I can't prove that statement epidemiologically.  But I would
not say that it is a meaningless connection as it does concern the 
some of the earliest recorded human history about marijuana.   In fact,
the proper response to my original post would have been to recognize
this ancient asssociation which is plainly documented and available to
almost anyone.  To those who thought that I could relate the words
epidemiologically, perhaps when we know where the Myias and
Incas (I'm unsure of the spelling here) of the new world actually
came from we might find a connection between them and the old world (as
well as its language). 

By the way, My original reference to the connection between cannabis 
and cannibalism I have long since lost, but it appeared years ago in
a US post office puplication about drugs (late 1970's).   

>>So you see, marijuana really is (or definitly was) used by 
>>cannibals.  There is a lot more information of interest concerning mistakes
>>made in interpreting original Hebrew text of the Old Testament in the work
>>of Benet.  They point towards the validation of a hypothesis that marijuana
>>is mentioned throughout the Old Testament.  

>Yes, so what?  I would be surprised if marijuana WEREN'T mentioned in the
>Old Testament.

Well, according to the commonly accepted editions now circulating it is NOT
mentioned in the the Old Testament.  And it isn't mentioned in the New
Testament for sure.  It turns out the Greeks are famous for NOT smoking
pot throughout history, although they have observed it for centuries.  The
New Testament has a lot of Greek influence in it.  So what?  You know
how many people respect the bible as a historical referrence?  If 
Cannabis were explicitly mentioned in the bible how could these TV
evangelists support the drug war (at least against marijuana) with 
such zeal?

The Romans knew and used the pharmacological properties of Cannabis for 
6 centuries (A.D.).  The Byzantine Empire ruled by Moslim Turks until 
about 1250 A.D.  included the common usage of hashish by the Turks. 
The Ottoman Empire also knew hashish and marijuana use but 
Stefanis,C.; Ballas,C.; and Madianou,D (from the same book as usual) 
claim that greeks never assimilated cannabis because "...they 
considered it antithetical to their own mores and customs."  
No refrences to use of Cannabis by Greeks appear (according to the 
authors) until after 1832 when Greece declared its independance.  
I believe the Greeks are now using Cannabis to some extent just like
everyone else, a fact also documented in Cannabis and Culture.

>If you want to connect word origins, try assassin and hashish.  These ARE
>both from the same root.  This is also more germane to the discussion since
>there ARE people who think marijuana and/or hashish can cause violent rages
>in people.  I know of NO-ONE who thinks pot smokers eat human flesh.

Someone already posted an excellent article about that, and I thank him.
That's one less trip to the library for me.  I do have some relevant 
information about that violent rage aspect from ancient China but you 
can find that out... 



						Much Later,

						Todd M. Miller

--
Xref: sparky talk.politics.drugs:5851 alt.drugs:14756