As the Science Advances reports, the earliest known evidence of cannabis use has been recently uncovered in the Pamir Mountains in Western China.

The study suggests the psychoactive variety of the Cannabis plant was being smoked at least 2,500 years ago, and that it may have been associated with ritual or religious activities.

Although the first documented uses of hemp (primarily for fibre) in Asia date back as early as 8000 – 5000 years BC, and the first written reports of the medicinal use of cannabis come from 2737 BC (Emperor Sheng Nung’s pharmacopoeia), the newest discovery sheds some light on the earliest signs of the ritual use of the psychoactive variety of Cannabis.

See the History section for more significant moments from the history of hemp, and read the original Science Advances study here:

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/6/eaaw1391