In Good Company: Emperor Shen-Nung

Marijuana for medicinal purposes is big news right now. More and more studies are showing the many medicinal uses of marijuana. This is not really new news though. For thousands of years marijuana has been touted as a wonder drug. I’ve said it before on this blog, as have many others, marijuana has a long history and it is only within the last century that it was listed as a banned substance.

Emperor Shen-Nung was a Chinese emperor from 2700 BC or so, yes that’s right close to three thousand years before Christ, or close to 4200 years ago. So who was he and why is this ancient Emperor being brought up on a marijuana site? Emperor Shen-Nung was the “Divine Farmer” Chinese legend claims he invented the cart and plow, tamed the Ox, yoked the horse, basically brought agriculture to China.

Much of this man is myth. If legends were to be believed he had the head of a bull and the body of a man. However it should be noted that his studies of herbs is still the subject of study today. He cataloged 365 medicinal herbs. One such herb is marijuana. Shen-Nung is the first known reference to marijuana as a medicinal herb. Shen-Nung believed marijuana was a wonder drug. He gave marijuana credit for curing over 100 ailments, many of which are being validated by modern studies.