According to Grinspoon (2005), marijuana may have been a crop grown as early as 10,000 years ago. The first discovered evidence attesting to the use of medicinal cannabis dates back to the Chinese emperor, Chen Nung, who lived five thousand years ago, when this plant was recommended against malaria, constipation and rheumatic pain, as well as the inability to concentrate and pain in relation to the female body (Grinspoon, 2005; Guterman 2000). Even Queen Victoria had a doctor advise her to use marijuana as a medicine for ailments such as “insomnia, migraines, menstrual cramps and muscle spasms” (Guterman, 2000, p. A21). Evidence of marijuana's power as medicine can be found in nearly every culture on Earth. For example, some tribes in Africa use marijuana to treat snake bites and to reduce the severe pain of childbirth and in India cannabis is used to “accelerate the mind, reduce fever, induce sleep, cure dysentery, stimulate appetite, improve digestion”. , relieve headaches, and cure venereal diseases” (Grinspoon, 2005, p. 1). Marijuana has been proven time and again as a powerful medicine by people of many ethnic backgrounds and countries around the world. Early years In the first centuries of medicinal use of cannabis (between 1600 and 1900) the drug was increasingly used in a wide range of areas. This era can be considered the period of greatest use of the substance (Grinspoon, 2005). During these years, marijuana was prescribed for many conditions including depression, skin inflammation, cough relief, urinary incontinence (or involuntary release of urine), rabies, rheumatism, epilepsy, tetanus, painful nerve problems, seizures, asthma, psychosis postpartum, gonorrhea, chronic illness… middle of paper… who risk their livelihoods to relieve pain and suffering and thousands upon thousands of those people are prosecuted every year. This plant has been used by millions of doctors and patients, both legally and illegally, by millions of people around the world for over ten millennia and will, without a doubt, be the medicine of choice for millennia to come. Works Cited Grinspoon, L. (2005, August 16). History of cannabis as medicine. MAPS. Retrieved from http://www.maps.org/mmj/grinspoon_history_cannabis_medicine.pdfGuterman, L. (2000). The drug of medical marijuana. Chronicle of Higher Education, 46(39), A21. Retrieved from EBSCO.Ludlum, M., & Ford, D. (2010). Lessons from California's compassionate use law. International Conference of Allied Academies. Academy of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues. Acts, 14, 22-26. doi: 2067094071