From ancient medicine to modern culture — this plant has been BUSY.
Buckle up.
We're going back a few thousand years. 🌿
Long before cannabis came in little glass jars, gummies, oils, vapes and beautifully branded packaging, humans had already discovered that this rather remarkable plant could be useful.
Very useful.
Its fibres could be made into textiles and rope.
Its seeds could be eaten and pressed for oil.
Different cultures incorporated parts of the plant into traditional medicine.
Some discovered its psychoactive properties.
And somewhere along the way, humanity managed to turn one plant into medicine, material, crop, cultural symbol, prohibited substance, political argument and modern research subject.
Frankly...
Cannabis has had more career changes than most of us. 😂
So climb aboard the Just Canna Time Machine.
PAST ⇄ PRESENT AND BEYOND...
We've got quite a journey ahead of us. 🌿⏰
🏺 FIRST STOP: THE ANCIENT WORLD
Cannabis isn't a modern discovery.
Humans have cultivated the plant for thousands of years, particularly across parts of Asia, where hemp varieties became valuable sources of fibre, food and other useful materials.
Historical evidence from China shows cannabis being used extensively as a fibre and seed crop. Hemp fibre was used for things such as clothing, rope, fishing nets and paper, while seeds were used as food and for oil. Cannabis also appears throughout classical Chinese literature.
Which means that thousands of years before anyone was debating cannabis on social media...
someone was essentially looking at the plant and saying:
“Well, we can make quite a lot of stuff out of this.”
And they weren't wrong.
🌿 THEN CAME MEDICINE
Cannabis also developed a long relationship with traditional medicine.
Chinese medical texts have recorded cannabis seeds and other parts of the plant for nearly 2,000 years, although exactly which plant parts were used — and for what purposes — changed across different periods.
You've probably heard the famous story of Shén Nóng, the legendary Chinese emperor and “Divine Farmer,” supposedly documenting medicinal cannabis thousands of years ago.
It's a wonderful story.
There's just one little historical problem. 😂
Shén Nóng is a legendary figure, and the medical text attributed to him was actually compiled much later.
So while China genuinely does have an ancient and important history with cannabis, we shouldn't turn an old tradition into an exact historical event simply because it makes a good meme.
Healing is Knowledge, after all. ❤️
⛵ CANNABIS GOES TRAVELLING
Cannabis didn't stay put.
Over centuries, cultivation and knowledge of the plant spread through different regions and cultures.
And one of the reasons hemp became so valuable had nothing whatsoever to do with getting high.
Fibre.
Strong plant fibres are extremely useful when your civilisation needs clothing, cordage, nets, paper and other durable materials.
Cannabis therefore had an enormous practical identity alongside its medicinal and psychoactive ones. Historical research documents its use for food, textile fibres, paper and medicine across different societies.
🧪 FROM TRADITION TO MODERN MEDICINE
Eventually cannabis also entered Western medical practice.
By the 19th century, cannabis preparations were being investigated and used medically in Europe and North America, and cannabis appeared in the United States Pharmacopeia in 1851 before later being removed in 1941.
But then the story changed dramatically.
Our Time Machine is about to enter a considerably less colourful neighbourhood...
🚫 PROHIBITION
During the 20th century, attitudes and laws surrounding cannabis hardened in many countries.
Cannabis increasingly became associated with criminalisation and international drug control rather than agriculture and medicine.
A major international milestone came with the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which placed cannabis under international controls.
For decades, prohibition heavily influenced how cannabis was discussed, researched and perceived.
A plant humans had known for thousands of years had acquired an entirely different identity.
But the story wasn't finished.
Not remotely.
✌️ ENTER THE COUNTERCULTURE
By the 1960s and 70s, cannabis had become strongly associated in popular culture with counterculture, music, youth movements and changing attitudes toward authority and personal freedom.
And THIS is where many of the cultural images we still associate with cannabis today really took hold.
Tie-dye.
Peace signs.
Music festivals.
Long hair.
A suspiciously cheerful Volkswagen Kombi. 😂✌️
Cannabis wasn't simply a plant anymore.
It had become a cultural symbol.
But while popular culture was having its moment...
scientists were beginning to uncover something much more interesting.
🔬 HELLO, CANNABINOIDS
Modern research began revealing the chemistry behind what people had observed for centuries.
Scientists identified and investigated compounds found in cannabis, including the cannabinoids we now commonly know as:
🌿 THC — tetrahydrocannabinol
🌿 CBD — cannabidiol
And research eventually led to another extraordinary discovery:
Our own bodies have an endocannabinoid system.
That changed the conversation enormously.
Instead of only asking:
“What does cannabis do?”
Researchers could begin exploring:
“How do cannabinoids interact with biological systems in the body?”
And suddenly our ancient plant had entered a very modern laboratory. 🧪🌿
🇿🇦 AND WHAT ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA?
Ohhhh, we're definitely stopping here. 😂🇿🇦🌿
Cannabis has its own deep cultural and historical relationship with southern Africa, where it is commonly known as dagga.
And South Africa's modern legal landscape has changed significantly in recent years.
In 2018, the Constitutional Court ruled that criminalising an adult's private use, possession and cultivation of cannabis for personal consumption was unconstitutional.
Then, in 2024, the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act was signed into law, creating a statutory framework around adult private use, possession and cultivation. Importantly, this did not simply legalise commercial dealing in cannabis.
And as of 2026, the regulatory story is still developing: draft regulations concerning private possession and cultivation limits were published for public comment earlier this year.
So even after thousands of years...
Cannabis is STILL keeping everyone busy. 😂
🌈 AND NOW?
Today, cannabis sits at a fascinating crossroads.
It's being studied scientifically.
It's being reconsidered legally in many parts of the world.
Hemp has regained attention as an agricultural and industrial crop.
CBD has become part of the modern wellness conversation.
Cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system remain active areas of scientific research.
And consumers have access to more information about strains, cannabinoids, terpenes and formulations than previous generations could have imagined.
But there's still plenty we don't know.
And perhaps that's the most interesting part.
🌿 SAME PLANT. DIFFERENT TIMES.
Ancient crop.
Traditional medicine.
Useful fibre.
Prohibited substance.
Counterculture icon.
Scientific research subject.
Modern wellness ingredient.
Cannabis didn't suddenly appear when somebody opened the first dispensary.
Humans have had a relationship with this plant for thousands of years — and that relationship has continually changed depending on culture, geography, science, law and society.
Which brings our little Just Canna Time Machine safely back to the present...
For now. 😂🌿⏰
Because next we're going to stop talking about cannabis as one big family and start meeting some of its most famous characters individually.
And there's only one place a South African brand should begin.
🇿🇦
NEXT STOP: DURBAN.
Durban Poison: The South African Legend
Born in Durban. Famous around the world.
❤️ Healing is Knowledge.
Cannabis has been surrounded by folklore, medicine, politics, stigma, culture and increasingly sophisticated science.
Our job isn't to tell you what to think about it.
It's to help you understand it.
Just Canna
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not medical or legal advice. Cannabis laws and regulations differ by jurisdiction and continue to change. Cannabis and cannabinoid products can carry risks and may interact with medicines; THC can impair driving and other activities requiring alertness.
