Research:1981-01-01/Journal article/the-religious-and-medicinal-uses-of-cannabis-in-china-india-and-tibet

Research record1 January 1981Journal article

The Religious and Medicinal Uses of Cannabis in China, India and Tibet

Mia Touw

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs · 1981

A survey of the documentary record for cannabis as a religious and medicinal plant across three traditions, written from the Arnold Arboretum. Touw works through the Chinese material from the Neolithic textile finds and the classics that treat hemp as one of the five grains, argues that the silence of the old scripts on psychoactivity reflects the decline and disrepute of shamanism rather than ignorance of the effect and reads the Pen Ts'ao Ching passage on ma-fen accordingly. The Indian and Tibetan sections cover the bhang, ganja and charas distinctions and the ritual and therapeutic contexts attached to them. Cited widely as a background source on the diffusion question and on the Chinese fibre-to-drug sequence.

DOI

Record created 11 August 2026 · maintained by landrace.wiki editors · page history

Published1 Jan 1981

TypeJournal article

VenueJournal of Psychoactive Drugs

Year1981

DOI10.1080/02791072.1981.10471447

DOI

1981-01-01 2026-08-11 The Religious and Medicinal Uses of Cannabis in China, India and Tibet Journal article Culture Mia Touw Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 1981 10.1080/02791072.1981.10471447 https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1981.10471447 A survey of the documentary record for cannabis as a religious and medicinal plant across three traditions, written from the Arnold Arboretum. Touw works through the Chinese material from the Neolithic textile finds and the classics that treat hemp as one of the five grains, argues that the silence of the old scripts on psychoactivity reflects the decline and disrepute of shamanism rather than ignorance of the effect and reads the Pen Ts'ao Ching passage on ma-fen accordingly. The Indian and Tibetan sections cover the bhang, ganja and charas distinctions and the ritual and therapeutic contexts attached to them. Cited widely as a background source on the diffusion question and on the Chinese fibre-to-drug sequence.