[Ruskointhehouse]

I feel cannabis was created by nature - but not the cannabis we see and use today. I believe man did to cannabis what man did to dog.
When wolves figured out they could help man for food and shelter (and other benefits) a relationship was formed. Over the course of thousands of years mankind was able to shape the wolf into the domestic dog we see today. When new wolf puppies were born, humans would only keep the cute cuddly ones; ones that would be good companions to the children of the community. The mean ones that would bite and be viscous would be thrown back into the wild. ( I learned that from "The Cosmos" with NGT - see not all tv is bad )
We were able to selectively breed the wolf into a completely new animal with all sorts of different species - eventually we even created small breeds such as the Chihuahua!

Do you think the same thing happened with cannabis that was found in the wild years ago by ancient humans? I know there is evidence of humankind using cannabis for all sorts of needs when you reach into human antiquity. However, I truly believe that humans shaped cannabis into what we know it as today. Therefore, one could assume humans created cannabis the same way we created the domesticated animals we have such as dogs.

What is really fascinating is how strong cannabis is getting. Some breeders will pop thousands of seeds to pick out a winner, and then breed with that. In essence we are throwing out the bad dog and keeping the good. The headache inducing plants with bad smells that would deter predators were thrown out - while those with good smells and pleasant highs were kept to create offspring. Plants that I believe naturally would not survive in the wild were kept.

I do know of a thing we like to call "landrace" strains. One could compare the selective breeding of nature to that of our own. One idea I struggle with however, is how different climates can dramatically alter a strain. For this reason I struggle with the aspect that we could have a plant bred by nature alone today. Most landraces out today have had some human interaction. I am afraid we will not be able to experience the true landrace variety of those in our past, ancestrally.

I have a strong feeling that man has actually created the cannabis we have today, although mostly from selective breeding - something nature would have done without our input. I image what nature could have made of cannabis into without human interaction - perhaps it could have even become poisonous?

How do you feel about this, and what do you think about the nature of the origin of cannabis? I know there have been studies about this I have not brought in to this argument - feel free to bring what ever information you have to the table.

[weedaholic721]

Cannabis Domestication, Breeding History, Present-day Genetic Diversity, and Future Prospects
Robert C. Clarke & Mark D. Merlin
Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences
Pages 1-35 | Published online: 02 Mar 2017
https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07352689.2016.1267498

Check out this paper (can use sci-hub.cc for free access). It's a comprehensive review covering many of the topics you mentioned.

[burningfire]

I don't think it's up for debate.. look at wild bananas.. wild cabbage.. corn.. any plant

[madalasatori]

Aliens created cannabis

👽

[St. Phatty]

Indica, Ruderalis, and Sativa probably existed before Homo Sapiens.

Seems like the significant breeding started in maybe the 1960's with the development of Skunk #1. (Columbian, Mexican, Afghani mixed together.)

Pot being what it is ... there were probably Cannabis users hundreds or thousands of years ago who saved seeds and did what we do, without the Attitude if you know what I mean.

[burningfire]

significant breeding started a lot earlier than that, there's still a number of wild cannabis plants out there, you can find some pictures of nepalese junglis which barely look like cannabis. they're similar but don't look like plants grown for hash, seed/oil, the closest plant they will resemble are the pure fiber types. I wouldn't call skunk#1 significant breeding in the grand scheme of things

[Bud Green]

Man did not create cannabis.
But we certainly nurtured it.

I am almost certain there were cannabis merchants in Abraham's day.. They would have traded it for wine, grain, cattle and silver.
Of course, there was no internet 4000 years ago, so you had to do the old-fashioned networking to find your local dealer...

[WelderDan]

Man didn't create cannabis. Man did, however, selectively breed cannabis. Much like teosinte (the predecessor to corn), man selectively bred for desirable traits.

Tomatoes, carrots, wheat (whose predecessor is spelt) are other crops man has selectively bred.

[Ruskointhehouse]

Originally Posted by weedaholic721

Cannabis Domestication, Breeding History, Present-day Genetic Diversity, and Future Prospects
Robert C. Clarke & Mark D. Merlin
Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences
Pages 1-35 | Published online: 02 Mar 2017
https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07352689.2016.1267498

Check out this paper (can use sci-hub.cc for free access). It's a comprehensive review covering many of the topics you mentioned.

wow - that's a great resource thank you!

[Ruskointhehouse]

Originally Posted by WelderDan

Man didn't create cannabis. Man did, however, selectively breed cannabis. Much like teosinte (the predecessor to corn), man selectively bred for desirable traits.

Tomatoes, carrots, wheat (whose predecessor is spelt) are other crops man has selectively bred.

very well put - I think though that man has changed the plant so much it is almost something entirely different - like how we changed wolves into dogs.