Qeq

Cheq it:

Did they actually smoke?

Nearly impossible to prove, but such fun to speculate about, the smoking habits of the founding fathers will likely remain a secret lost in time. Thomas Jefferson is known to have imported seeds from Asia and it is easy to presume that he was aware of the hemp culture there, which is believed to be the place of origin of cannabis.

According to Dr. Burke, who was the President of the American Historical Reference Society, “Early letters from our founding fathers refer to the pleasures of hemp smoking,”. Burke also listed seven of the earliest Presidents of the United States as hemp smokers: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor and Franklin Pierce.

https://weedfeed.tv/2021/01/28/the-founding-fathers-and-cannabis/

[This single, quickly found article doesn't constitute proof of what it claims, of course...it just gives a name with a Dr. in front of it who supposedly was the head of an official-sounding organizational name; and alleges seven US presidents smoked hemp.]

Yeah, But Did They Get High?

Here's the deep dive:

https://hightimes.com/culture/flying-founding-fathers/

"Anyone who has ever farmed cannabis knows that just being around the plants can sometimes be intoxicating. From that point of view it’s difficult to imagine that the colonists didn’t know about getting high. Not necessarily from smoking—there is simply no literature at all to suggest that cannabis was in any way smoked by the colonists. On the other hand, Marcandier’s Treatise on Hemp, published in Boston in 1766, says that tea and wine made from cannabis were intoxicants, and that even when used externally as poultices, the odor was so strong it not only numbed but intoxicated.

"The other side: 1) The cannabis was grown for fibre, not narcotic in this country; 2) Alcohol was the drug of the day, supplemented by legal, available opiates, as well as tobacco."

BTW just for fun

tea and wine made from cannabis were intoxicants

In parts of Mexico this is called potiguaya, potaguaya, or potación de guaya (grief potion); used for stress relief

Shortening of 'potion' → 'pot'

/werdnerd