Cannabis in context 3. It proposed a general and a specific definition of cannabis along the following lines. The words 'cannabis resin' and 'hashish' are used when referring to the resin of the cannabis flower.
Cannabis is a Latin word meaning hemp.
The expressions 'hemp' or 'Indian hemp' are particularly used in older documents cited in this chapter and refer to the whole of the cannabis plant. Cannabis in history From its earliest recorded uses, cannabis has been important in commerce and warfare. Its fibrous stems have been used to make textiles, paper, ropes and bowstrings. Cannabis has been employed as a medicine and as a psychoactive drug for social and religious purposes. It also appears to have been used in China as early as the second century BC for clothing, shoes, bowstrings and for its anaesthetic properties.