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A million years of marijuana: How cannabis became our favourite weed

Cannabis was one of the first crops that humans cultivated about 12,000 years ago. But medicinal and psychoactive uses are much more recent

By Chelsea Whyte

6 September 2023

Illustration of the leaves and seeds of Cannabis sativa

Cannabis sativa is one of two main varieties smoked today. It diverged from cannabis indica more than 1 million years ago

Bildagentur-online/Getty Images

It’s the kind of question that might be raised in a smoky room, as the asker flicks back the wheel on a lighter, about to hold the flame to a joint: Where did weed even come from? Not the marijuana dispensary down the street or that guy your cousin goes to – but long, long before that?  

Pinning down precisely when cannabis evolved is tricky business because the plant’s iconic leaves …

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