All language subtitles for S02E06 - Cannabis - Tree of Life.en

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Israel's Negev Desert, just
35 miles South of Jerusalem.

In the 1960s, researchers
make an astonishing discovery

while excavating an
archaeological site

called Tel Arad.

A shrine dating back
to at least 715 BCE.

Inside, they collected
charred remains

of an unidentified
plant material.

According to a new report
released in June of 2020,

it was unidentifiable until
advancements in chemical

analysis made a breakthrough.

The charred material
was cannabis.

It is the oldest discovery of
cannabis in the ancient Near

East, confirming the substance
played an important role

in the spiritual lives of
people in the kingdom of Judah.

My understanding is that
cannabis has been used widely

in many cultures, everything
from the Vedic traditions,

to Buddhism, to Mbwiti, and
many of the South American

traditions.

Ancient India, Asia, Persia,
and Africa all are now known

to have some ancient ceremonial
connections between cannabis

and their religion.

I don't believe there's
another plant that served

humans more than cannabis,
not only to deal with pain

management, but to
create soap, clothing,

and you name it from hemp.

The cannabis plant is one
of the most important ones,

and it's been used for thousands
and thousands of years.

Cannabis is one of the
oldest-cultivated crops

in the world and is emerging as
a modern-day wonder of commerce

and industry.

As new genetic variations,
medicines, and industrial uses

are developed, some
fear the cannabis plant

will be changed forever.

For some, this is
part of a movement

to live more
harmoniously with nature.

As we uncover new archaeological
cannabis and hemp discoveries,

we can construct a more complete
understanding of this plant's

role in human history.

Could cannabis, with its
many gifts for mankind,

be the true tree of life?

As a sacrament,
cannabis was carried

throughout the Old World
trade routes and can likely

be traced back to ancient
Egypt, ancient Greece,

as well as the early days
of Christianity, Buddhism,

Hinduism, Islam, and as the Tel
Arad discovery proved, Judaism.

It's important to note the
difference between the two

primary subspecies of the plant.

Cannabis sativa, with
higher amounts of THC,

possesses psychoactive
properties.

Cannabis sativa L,
or hemp, does not,

and has primarily been
cultivated for manufacturing

textiles, oil, and food.

The earliest written
evidence of using the plant

dates back to 2737 BCE when
descriptions of hemp oils

and teas were recorded in
Chinese emperor, Shen Nung's

Pen Tsao Ching.

But use most likely
dates back even further.

There are archaeological
sites in China.

It appears that cannabis
came out of China

and that some of these sites
are at least 10,000 years old.

It's clear from
the plant materials

that were recovered
that these were

resinous forms of cannabis.

They weren't hemp.

There were actually medicine.

Cannabis is the oldest
cultivated plant in human

history.

Some say it is actually
the tree of life,

or an analogy of
the tree of life,

because it has so many
uses, hundreds of uses.

The concept of a sacred
plant or a tree is found in many

ancient religions.

For some it's called
the tree of life--

a symbol of love, fertility,
wisdom, and immortality.

The tree of life
may also commemorate

our symbiotic
relationship with nature.

Some faiths see it as a
provider of healing nectar

or a gateway to enlightenment.

Sumerian translator and
Gnostic scholar Anton Parks

suggests that the tree of life
is significant in human history

and mythology.

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The story of the tree of life
can be found in many cultures.

The Gnostic texts
mention it a lot.

It relates to ways for people
to achieve transcendence.

We can see it in representations
and through the very specific

use shamans make of plants.

I think that you can find this
story or possible story mixed

up in many cultures--

the idea that you can enter
in direct communication

with the divine through plants.

I believe that the
tree of life is cannabis.

When I look at what plant would
be more useful to humanity,

and rather than thinking
that the tree of life

had anything to do with
the fall of humanity,

I think keeping this
plant away from the people

has had a lot more to do
with the fall of humanity.

I feel that cannabis
was one of the main plants

in the Garden of Eden.

And I feel that the reason
that cannabis has come back

in such a big way
in our society is

because we've gotten so out
of balance with the masculine,

with this force in the
world of doing and taking

and conquering.

I think any powerful symbol
like the tree of life is meant

to mirror life in
many different ways.

So it can look like
an actual tree.

It can be our own
neural networks.

It can be what's going
on beneath the soil.

To me it's the idea of as
above, so below; as within,

so without.

"The Urantia" book says that
there was an actual tree that

grows throughout the
universe, and that a group

of extraterrestrials brought a
tree here about half a million

years ago that would help them
to be immortal and also help

them to civilize humanity.

Is it possible that
this sacred plant may have

originated from elsewhere
in the universe?

There's a tribe in Africa
called the Dogon People,

and they knew about Sirius
B before we discovered it

with our telescopes.

And one of the interesting
things about this culture,

one of the many
interesting things,

is they use cannabis for
many things in their tribe

and in their livelihood for
we don't even know how long.

They don't have a
written history.

But they say that cannabis
was given to them by the star

people from Sirius.

The Dogon people called
Sirius the Two Dog star,

and today we call these two
stars Sirius A and Sirius B.

Curiously, in Latin this
constellation's name suggests

something more profound.

The word cannabis can be
broken down into-- the word

canine is for dogs
and Bi means two.

So cannabis, actually, we can
define as meaning Two Dog star.

If cannabis means
the Two Dog star,

what might be the significance
of this beloved animal

for the Dogon?

Psychiatrist
Stanislav Grof posits

that celestial archetypes
often act as spiritual guides

during altered states
of consciousness.

If psychiatry goes in the
right direction, in my opinion,

it would be working with these
sacred medicines and using

archetypal astrology as a guide.

Archetypal astrology is amazing.

It's amazing for
people in these states

to have some kind of guidance.

What is happening to them
to understand that it's not

completely erratic?

Modern agricultural practices
have all but depleted the soil.

Deforestation,
pollution, and pesticides

are doing long-term damage
to the soil, mycelium, water,

and the air we breathe.

In modern agriculture, we
have very little to no respect

for what lives within the soil.

Tilling destroys these
very complex communities

and networks of
organisms, root systems,

and mycelium that are part of
the intelligence of the soil.

I think when plants
are grown inorganically,

they're grown onto lots,
they're grown with chemicals,

and they're grown with the
motivation of growing them

for profit.

I think this destroys
the spirit of the plant.

You need diversity in
all systems of life,

and you need diversity in
the cannabis realm as well.

I think the most fundamental
thing that we could do

to change the way we grow food
or medicine is being in a state

of relationship, to come
in a place of offering.

In a more traditional
model of agriculture,

which is being more and more
integrated into smaller-scale

settings, it's
all about how well

you take care of the soil, what
you give back to the soil that

allows you to have
the kind of outcomes

that you want in
terms of a harvest.

Despite all of the advances
in technology and agriculture,

hunger and starvation
continue to plague the world.

Hemp cannabis may
offer solutions.

It's a medicine and an
industrial material,

but can it also be
a source of food?

It's a plant that can provide
fuel, medicine, fabric, paper,

oil for cooking, and cannabis
is one of the most nutritious

plants on the face of the earth.

The seeds alone-- excellent
profile of Omega 3

to Omega 6 fatty acids, which
are so important for our brain

health.

We also know that cannabis
seeds are high in protein and B

vitamins and vitamin E, and
it's a very versatile seed.

As a possible food source,
hemp consumes only one-third

of the water of corn, a crop
that is also heavily reliant

on various pesticides.

Hemp is not.

It also has potential
as fabric and paper.

Now, another environmental
problem is paper,

and paper used to
be made from hemp,

and it doesn't yellow the
way paper from trees does.

Paper mills contribute to
a major source of chemical

pollution in waterways.

Trees have a
substance called lignin,

and lignin requires a lot
of chemicals to separate

the lignins from the trees,
whereas cannabis has a lot less

lignin and it can give its
paper-making properties off

with about one-seventh
the amount of chemicals.

It can even help
wean us of fossil fuels.

Hemp-derived biodiesel produces
very low sulfur dioxide

and it doesn't deplete the soil.

I see great possibilities
ahead for use of this plant

that grows so easily.

It can grow as tall as
a tree in three months

and put down a root system
that nourishes the earth,

and the root decomposes.

There's really nothing like it.

Here's an ideal stand.

The right height to
be harvested easily,

thick enough to grow
slender stocks that

are easy to cut and process.

One of the oldest
cultivated crops in the world,

cannabis just might be able
to help the earth evolve

into a cleaner and more
sustainable economy.

But humans face increasing
rates of disease.

How bright is the future
if those issues are not

addressed as well?

Be careful how you use it.

For to grow hemp
legally, you must

have a federal
registration and tax stamp.

In recent years, the legal
prohibition dam in the United

States has burst.

With state after state
decriminalizing cannabis.

The fastest growing commercial
product from this plant

is its medicine.

Breakthroughs in
research are documenting

cannabis' therapeutic abilities
with anxiety, pain management,

and with the side effects
from chemotherapy.

This has led the way in changing
the public's perception.

We're realizing the
tremendous amount of benefits.

It's almost good for
everything-- fibromyalgia,

lupus, and immune system
disorders, and pain management

as well, and giving it to cancer
patients to increase appetite.

You know, I think the most
amazing emerging evidence

regarding medical marijuana
is its effects against cancer.

There were studies
in the '70s, as early

as the '70s, that
indicated that cannabis

stopped the growth
of tumors, and even

reversed it by stopping the
blood flow into the tumor.

I believe there are
435 different chemicals

in the chemical plant.

It's a matter of understanding
what kind of resonance

there needs to be between all
of these chemicals, to what

level of degrees of
strength and weakness

they need to exist
for us to treat

this specific ailment,
this specific disease,

and this is the engineering
that needs to happen.

To meet the demand
for psychotropic effects,

today's commercial cannabis is
most often bred to have higher

levels of THC.

Humans have selected
certain strains

for certain characteristics
not unlike what we

do with animals, for example.

We get certain breeds that
have certain characteristics

by selecting and breeding
those, and so this happens

in the plant world as well.

You can modify cannabis
through conventional methods

like selective breeding or
even genetic engineering.

You can create all sorts of
tailored strains of cannabis.

But if you look at it in terms
of this human-plant symbiosis

relationship, it doesn't seem to
mind that we can manipulate it

in all kinds of ways.

The therapeutic effects
seem to be related

to ratios between THC and CBD.

They're really two
different critters.

They have different effects.

And so biotechnology
opens up the possibility

that you can develop these
designer strains of cannabis.

If you want to breed
for psychoactivity,

you can have higher THC levels.

If you want to breed for some of
the benefits that the CBD has,

you could have high-CBD
strains of cannabis.

CBD is technically
a not psychoactive,

but it does have analgesic
effects, so muscle relaxant

effects and this sort of thing.

But can this practice lower
the ratio of other potentially

beneficial cannabinoids?

For a lot of the
history of cannabis,

people have focused
on the effects of THC,

which is one of the
eight major cannabinoids.

And THC has many
medicinal properties,

but it also, when
burned or carbonized,

it has a kind of high effect.

And so some people are
attracted to the use

of these high-THC strains
for that high effect.

But what happens is the
other cannabinoids exist

in a certain ratio, and if you
have more of one cannabinoid,

you have less of the other ones.

So we have recently found
that CBD and CBN are

two of the other
cannabinoids that

have all of the medicinal
properties of THC plus some,

but they don't have
the high effect,

and these can be
consumed as an edible.

So this is good news for people
who don't want to get high,

but want to have all of
the medicinal properties

that this amazing plant offers.

A debate remains over whether
or not THC checks all the boxes

as a psychedelic.

Technically, cannabis
is not a psychedelic from

a neuroscience standpoint,
and even really from

an experiential standpoint,
but cannabis is most certainly

a teacher plant and certainly
could be put in the category

of these very profound
master plants.

I would not say cannabis
is a psychedelic.

THC that nature
provides up to 3%-4%,

and now with the engineering
and the cultivar and hydroponics

can go up to 28%-29%,
that's psychedelic.

So cannabis can get psychedelic.

What plant medicine
traditions use cannabis

as an accessory to aid
the healing potency

of the ceremonial
psychedelic, and why?

There is, I think, some
branch of the Santo Daime that

it smokes marijuana in their
ayahuasca ceremony and around

their ayahuasca ceremonies, and
they use it that way and work

with it that way.

For us, the Shipibo,
at least my experience,

is that it can interfere with
our way of approaching things.

And so it can interfere
with our experience

with ayahuasca, not in every
case, but in many cases.

Cannabis is a really
interesting energy because she

kind of has a little bit
of a trickster energy.

In the Mbwiti
tradition, many times,

because it's a stimulant,
it can be very activating,

cannabis can be used
to calm and to ground.

But one thing about
cannabis is it can also

reactivate other medicines.

For instance, if
you smoke cannabis

after taking
5-MeO-DMT, you can go

right back into
a full experience

without taking the 5-MeO.

So I think that you have to
be careful with cannabis,

but it is traditionally
part of the medicine

bag of most medicine teachers
in the indigenous traditions.

So cannabis is a
powerful plant medicine,

highly regarded as a
master plant as well,

even in the Amazon.

And so I do see it as
a spiritual teacher

for many people.

For the Shipibos, the
people that I work with,

they just comment that
marijuana, like many plants,

has its dark side.

It has its light side,
its medicine side,

and it has its dark side.

The dark side of marijuana is
a tendency towards anxiety,

tendency towards paranoia.

They call it like a
sticky energy, holding on.

You don't progress
emotionally, like delaying

emotional maturation,
staying into some kind

of adolescent attitudes
about certain things.

So they would warn
that that's also there.

So we need to be aware
of that and still find

ways to use it medicinally.

Is it possible that these
imbalances can be harmful

and that the prohibition
of cannabis was justified?

The THC mostly affects
the way your brain works.

It interferes with
your short-term memory,

your concentration, even with
how well you learn things.

Like tobacco, inhaling
marijuana smoke

is dangerous to
your lungs and can

be harmful to your heart,
your reproductive system,

and your immune system.

And the chemicals in pot
can stay in your body

up to 30 days, long
after the high wears off.

Most experts agree it's
not something that can kill

an individual by overdosing.

There's usually a mechanism.

For example, opiates--
people die from overdose

because it suppresses
respiration,

but cannabis just does not
affect those core brain stem

functions that
maintain breathing

and all the other
things that are

keeping us going in the
autonomic nervous system.

So it's just a matter of they
just don't have those effects.

For decades, cannabis was
demonized and criminalized

despite its relative safety,
especially when compared

to other substances.

So now can this plant
finally bring even

the most nature-blind
consumers back to their senses?

Early civilizations owe a
debt of gratitude to hemp.

Simple yet strong
hemp ropes enabled

us to conquer the oceans
with our sailing vessels

and helped us to domesticate
livestock and horses,

allowing us to migrate
vast distances.

While cannabis' spiritual
potential is well-established,

hemp has important
practical applications

in the physical world.

Astonishingly, our
ancestors seemed

to have an understanding
of this as well.

It wasn't just
consumed or smoked.

Hemp was literally one of the
building blocks of civilization

around the world.

Cannabis is such
a versatile plant,

and we're still discovering
its myriad of benefits.

But in the ancient
world, it's possible

that cannabis was used as food,
that it was used as medicine,

that it was used
as a fiber plant,

that it was used
for animal bedding--

the leaves can be fodder for
animals, for horses and goats

and so forth--

that it was used as
building material, roofing.

In the sixth century, the
Merovingian Dynasty built many

bridges throughout the south
of France made of stone

and a hemp-based concrete.

These structures have
stood the test of time.

This durable substance wasn't
relegated to southern France.

Nearly 5,000 miles away
near Maharashtra, India,

a similar mixture
of hemp and clay

was found plastered on the
walls of the alora caves.

Over time, hemp
fell out of favor,

hastened by the
prohibition of the plant.

But now, coinciding with
the acceptance of cannabis,

hemp's versatility as a
textile and building material

is being rediscovered
in some surprising ways.

Builders have
updated the concrete

from Merovingian
times, and many believe

this is not only superior
to traditional concrete,

but more sustainable.

Innovative products
derived from hemp

can also replace less
sustainable materials

for cars, homes, planes,
shipping materials, paper

goods, packaging, and clothing.

So much of what we
currently use, like plastic,

is destructive to the
environment or simply

unsustainable.

Could the reemergence
of hemp be one more way

to help us live more
harmoniously with nature?

Cannabis is often consumed
in a communal setting,

helping individuals connect
on a spiritual level.

But what if it can
make connections

on a technological
level by meeting

our need for inexpensive
supercapacitors and energy

systems?

Lithium batteries are
used in just about all

of our cutting-edge
technologies--

smartphones, computers,
and even electric cars.

While their ability to recharge
cuts back on some waste,

we pay a heavy price
for their production,

environmentally
and economically.

The extraction of
lithium and graphene

as well as the toxic
chemicals needed

to process them are polluting
our soil, air, and water.

Researchers are unlocking
the capabilities

of hemp-derived graphene,
opening the possibility

of creating batteries that
are just as powerful, more

sustainable, and cost a small
fraction of today's leading

tech.

Cannabis has the potential
to bring a more cost-effective

and eco-friendly solution
to our technological future.

Could its mind-bending
effects also

hold the key to our
spiritual future,

bringing human beings back
to the ecology of Gaia?

I have great hopes for
this plant, cannabis sativa.

With so many problems
on our planet,

even though there's
so many plants,

this is one plant that
could heal so many

of the environmental travesties
that we have going on.

The world needs hemp.

I know if I were
going to another world

and could bring
one plant with me,

it would be cannabis because
there is nothing like that

can do so many things.

In the next episode,
explore the feminine revival

of the guardians of plant
spirits and their hidden

potential to bring
humans closer to nature.