Cannabis remains one of the most consumed medicinal plants of the planet and it seems that it is only growing in popularity.

The digital age has ushered in a new emphasis on the idea of wellness. Now more than ever people are wholly invested in their own health, mental and spiritual development. The Internet has made it far easier to access a plethora of wellness practices from mindfulness meditation, yoga, breathwork, conscientious eating, and a myriad of different practices and belief systems.

Furthermore, there is a revitalization of the interest in psychotropic drugs and the human condition. However, this recent interest in these psychedelic drugs can be traced directly to the legalization of cannabis. This is because cannabis is the wellness drug for the modern human.

In today’s article, we’re going to take a deeper look at how cannabis can help shape this modern interest into holistic living. Where the importance of spiritual, mental, and physical well-being is of primary importance to the majority of the individuals living in society.

Cannabis and holistic medicine

The term “holistic” can be defined as the comprehension that different parts are intimately interconnected and explicable only by the reference to the term whole. Within a medical context, it is a treatment that focuses on the wellbeing of the person by taking into consideration mental, social, physical, and spiritual factors rather than simply focusing on the symptoms of the disease.

Considering that cannabis is intrinsically connected to our endocannabinoid system (commonly known as the master system), it makes absolute sense that cannabis helped usher in — or at least helped solidify — the idea of holistic medicine to the mainstream.

This is because the endocannabinoid system is in charge of bringing the body into homeostasis. Homeostasis is the tendency toward a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes.

Homeostasis and holistic are eerily similar in nature considering that both concepts provide equilibrium with the purpose of maintaining the whole.

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Thanks to prohibition, cannabis became the most consumed illegal drug on the planet. When it started becoming legal for medical purposes, it reframed use from “pathologically abusing drugs” to using a natural plant to provide medical benefit to suffering patients.

When the relationship between cannabis and the endocannabinoid system was firmly established in the 1990s, the revolution of wellness began. In 1997 when cannabis was first legalized for medical purposes in states like California and Washington, it marked the changing of the tides.

Now, 24 years later, cannabis remains one of the most consumed medicinal plants of the planet and it seems that it is only growing in popularity.

Cannabis and reclaiming your health

At some point in the early 1900s, the medical paradigm dramatically shifted. For hundreds of years prior to the prohibition of cannabis in 1937, marijuana was found in roughly 80% of the medicines used by physicians.

Additionally, there was a lot of emphasis on diet as a form of medicine. Yet with the advancement of pharmaceutical drugs, a definite line between natural and chemical medicine was drawn. Pharmaceutical drugs started becoming the norm because in some instances it did prove superior to natural remedies.

However, the pharmaceutical industry started financing medical schools and medical school literature which began shifting the paradigm of newly graduated physicians. This continues to this day and is part of the reason why the United States is currently facing an opioid crisis.

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The knowledge that cannabis has medical properties is nothing new. The medical community has known these truths for thousands of years. However, unlike pharmaceutical drugs cannabis cannot be patented and can be grown at one’s own home. And this is precisely why the pharmaceutical industry for many years bankrolled prohibition.

Now that extracts for specific cannabinoids are possible, the pharmaceutical industry reinvigorated their interest in cannabis. However, within the DIY generation, the idea of growing your own medicine is far more attractive than getting it from a pharmacy. Within the idea of wellness, health is a direct result from diet, exercise, and mental health. Thus, cannabis becomes the obvious choice as the first defense against disease and illness leaving pharmaceuticals to be the last resort.

Cannabis for mind, body and spirit

One of the reasons why cannabis is so popular among newer generations is because it addresses the whole as opposed to a specific symptom. There aren’t many other medicines out there that can say the same.

The reason why cannabis will continue to grow in popularity and reclaim its rightful place alongside humanity is because it is a medicine that one can grow with simple ingredients, that provides a plethora of benefits for the mind the body and the spirit.

This is only the beginning of the wellness revolution. COVID-19 served as a pressure cooker that forced people to look inward for their solutions and as a result discovered a wealth of wellness activities online. And if you take a look at cannabis sales over the past year and a half, these folks also smoked a shitload of weed.

This article originally appeared on Cannabis.net and has been reposted with permission.