It seems like everybody these days is talking about CBD and its incredible medical benefits. Many are being introduced to Cannabidiols for the first time as if it has just arrived on the scene.

It may feel like it is an exciting, new discovery, but CBD and hemp oil have been around a long time and used to treat many conditions down the ages. You will be surprised.

It is believed cannabis was originally domesticated around 15,000 years ago. What's more, cannabis tea was taken to treat gout, malaria, and rheumatism in ancient China, while the Egyptians used it as an anti-inflammatory.

Cannabis was originally widespread in the east, but eventually travelled west in the Middle Ages, where it was taken for various complaints like jaundice, coughs and even tumours.

It would not be until the 18th century when medical publications in America documented the medicinal properties of cannabis. It was later recognised as a medicine and became commercially available in the next century. Following the endorsement of a noted physician called William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, lauded for his work leading to the invention of the IV, or intravenous drip.

O’Shaughnessy spent years studying botanical pharmacology in India, which had utilised cannabis medicinally for millennia.  

He published a somewhat controversial study in 1839 highlighting the plant’s therapeutic characteristics, and how it could be employed to treat numerous conditions, as well as an anaesthetic.

O’Shaughnessy’s report is seen by many as the first step in the discovery of cannabinoid compounds. However, it would be almost a century before advances in science, research and technology would lead to the detection of the compounds in the plant.

The work of British chemist Robert S. Cahn saw the initial discovery of an individual cannabinoid when he noted the partial structure of CBN, which was subsequently recognised as fully formed in 1940.

It would be another two years though, in 1942, when US chemist Roger Adams made scientific history, by isolating the first-ever cannabinoid, CBD. Adams was also noted for discovering THC, or Tetrahydrocannabinol.

It was the work of pioneers like Adams, alongside many others, which saw innovations being made in the field of CBD. It is a tradition that continues to this day, where we never know which discoveries may be around the corner, and we still have much to learn.