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12 MARIJUANA AND SYNTHETICS

Foliage of the cannabis plant.

among other maladies. They also used the plant as an anesthetic during surgery. The Chinese brought cannabis to Korea around 2000 BCE, and the plant later spread across South Asia. As the plant spread, so did its popularity. Many found the leaves had euphoric qualities. In India, for example, the plant was used solely for its intoxicating effects. Elsewhere, some followers of Islam smoked the plant instead of drinking alcohol. They learned how to collect the resin drops that coat its leaves and flowers and turned it into hashish, a more powerful form of cannabis. No one knows exactly when hashish was first discovered, but some stories say it was around 1115 CE. According to legend, an Islamic monk in Persia (modern-day Iran) named Hayder was depressed. He took a walk out into the field and sampled the leaves of the cannabis plant. When he returned to the monastery, Hayder was amazed at how happy he was. His followers asked him why he was so giddy. He told them about the leaves he