Whilst the use of medical cannabis on prescription is still limited to relatively rare conditions and the benefits of cannabidiol are continuing to be researched, cannabis is one of the world’s oldest medications.
Its effects were noted in the Ebers Papyrus, one of the world’s oldest medical textbooks, there are references to its effects in China that potentially date back 10,000 years and many ancient traditions from Greece to India reference its painkilling properties.
Whilst its use is limited to a few conditions in the UK in situations where other treatments cannot be used, it has historically been used for a wide range of different conditions.
Even its historic use in the UK for medicinal purposes is nearly two centuries old, and much of the research of the doctor who helped bring cannabis to the English-speaking world mirrors the case that started to bring change in the UK hundreds of years later.
From Limerick To Calcutta
Born in the Irish city of Limerick, William Brooke O’Shaughnessy started his medical journey in Scotland, later moving to Calcutta after getting his degree in order to further his interest in Indian folk medicine.
Ancient Indian medical traditions use cannabis for a wide variety of conditions. Besides pain and headaches, particularly the pain of childbirth, ‘bhang leaf’ was also used to help with a variety of gastrointestinal disorders and in the relief of insomnia.
The psychoactive properties were known and treated by some philosophers of the era as part of the healing action.
Dr O’Shaugnessy became an Assistant Surgeon and later Professor of Chemistry at the College of Calcutta, and wanted to test the effects of ‘bhang’ in a controlled, medical environment.
Up to that point, cannabis was barely known in Europe outside of the somewhat clandestine use of “hasheesh” by Soldiers in the French port city of Marseilles, so Dr O’Shaughnessy’s experiments started to get significant attention.
He tested it on animals and then started to find it was effective for treating pain, stomach cramps and muscle spasms, the latter of which made it effective in treating certain rare and intense types of epilepsy.
His first major success, and the one that garnered cannabis increased attention in Europe, was successfully treating a patient with rheumatism and then halting a young child’s convulsive fits, both using cannabis resin.
The biggest success, and the one that would be most associated with him when it came to medical cannabis, was his treatment of rabies and tetanus symptoms using cannabis resin.
Given that rabies and tetanus are very different diseases with symptoms and causes that are distinct from each other, cannabis did not actually cure either condition.
Instead, it was used to relieve the convulsions and spasms associated with both conditions and helped reduce suffering, even if it would not ultimately keep them alive.
He returned to England in 1841 and continued his research, alongside the telegraphy research that ultimately granted him a knighthood before he passed away in January 1889 at the age of 79.
The biggest challenge cannabis would have in the century following Sir William’s death was vindicating and validating his work, and cases such as Alfie Dingley’s highlight the life-changing effect it can have.