although cannabis gets great press as an auspicious herb in the
Indo-Tibetan tradition, anyone who takes the time to actually observe
the way its used in these regions will quickly see that the only people
that consume regularly are those that live on the fringes of society,
drug addicts and western tourists looking to get high - its use a
tantric drug is vastly overestimated

purified in milk, curd etc it is considered to be a sacrament, to
purify the temple idols, linga etc, but its consumption as a means to
an end is something that has been fully explored and rejected by
Ayurveda and all the major spiritual traditions of India - it some
regions of India it is still used for ceremonial purposes, and is
associated with the Lord Shiva

if people smoke it for recreational purposes they would do well to
dispel the illusion that it somehow leads to an enlightened state of
consciousness
in the tibetan bon tradition the cannabis deva is a spindly legged
creature with fangs, yellow-slitted eyes, grey skin, and sparse hair
pulsating with poisonous energy it creeps around in the dark, shunning
the light, hiding in the darkened places
it is a creature of vayu, and when consumed creates an illusion of
bliss that feeds on fear, paranoia and vitality (ojas)

otherwise its just another herb, and a mildly toxic one at that, but
not worth getting all that excited about, either from a medical or
legal perspective
taken internally, either smoked (e.g. ganja, charas), drunk (e.g.
bhang) or eaten (e.g. majoom) the female flowers are reasonably useful
for pain and spasm, and also in anorexia and nausea (e.g. with
chemotherapy), except that the patient pretty much needs to get stoned
silly before it is all that effective - for some patients this is
intolerable, for others its a happy side-effect, although these folks
are usually potheads before requiring it as a medicine - nothing like a
"legitimate" excuse to get high

from a scientific perspective there is some evidence to suggest it
might be effective in some types of depressive conditions and other
addictions (although i am very skeptical for a number of reasons - LSD
has more promise to my mind); i have also come across some evidence
that its capacity to bind with cannabinoid receptors in the brain can
modulate immune function (but Echinacea does this too), and there is a
little data to suggest that it might help in conditions like
parkinson's and MS, although its benefit here is not curative nor all
that impressive; lastly, it has been touted to be of benefit in brain
cancer, most notably by the academic/pop culture crossover guru
Terrence McKenna, but despite being a confirmed pot head he actually
succumbed to a rare form of brain cancer...

as a tea the leaves are useful in colic, and generally not too
intoxicating, but there are so many alternatives I have never
considered it

speaking with a nurse at a hep C clinic they did an informal study and
found that cannabis usage is an independent risk factor for hepatitis
C, suggesting that its regular consumption promotes liver damage, apart
from the obvious lung damage

the seeds are nutritious (i.e. rich in proteins and alpha linolenic
acid) and also being rich in mucilage are good for constipation, on par
with flax except it tastes better
and like flax, the fiber is strong and useful for cloth, ropes and paper

in his "Indian Materia Medica" Dr. Nadkarni has an extensive monograph
on it, and a recipe for majoom that is one of the better ways to use it
as an analgesic

Todd Caldecott
todd@...