Author: Mo Smyth
Hey everyone, I am Nurse Mo. During the decades of helping patients, I've watched our healthcare system ignore one of the most effective healing tools available. When I discovered the power of cannabis and why the system had buried it, I decided to act. I became a cannabis nurse. I founded Cannabis Public School to bring real cannabis education to medical professionals — including Continuing Education Credits for working nurses. Today, I want to share something that changed how I see this plant: the healing history of drinking cannabis.
Humans have used cannabis for thousands of years. But most people would associate cannabis with smoking. As a matter of fact, drinking cannabis not only has a much older history, but also has a more medical focus.
From ancient healing rituals to 19th-century pharmacies to today’s precision therapeutics, people have consistently turned to drinking cannabis when they wanted the plant to heal the body. This is that story.
Phase 1: Ancient Roots
Before labs and labels, people worked with what they had. Cannabinoids don’t dissolve in water, so cultures found workarounds. In ancient India, this became bhang: cannabis ground and mixed with milk, fats, or alcohol to release its compounds. It was tied to Shiva, one of the central deities, often associated with transformation, balance, and healing.
In ancient China, cannabis was infused into wine for healing and surgery. The physician Hua T’o reportedly used cannabis wine as an anesthetic, a sign of real clinical confidence. Across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, similar patterns emerged: fat, alcohol, heat, and time were used to turn a stubborn plant into a medicine that worked. Different cultures used different tools with the same insight.
Phase 2: Cannabis Enters Western Medicine
In the 19th century, cannabis medicine got organized. William O’Shaughnessy, an Irish physician working in India, studied how bhang was used clinically for pain, spasms, and anxiety. He published his findings and introduced cannabis tinctures to Western medicine. This is the turning point for cannabis to exist on pharmacy shelves.
During this era, Parke-Davis and Eli Lilly both sold cannabis in liquid form. Eli Lilly grew its own cannabis in Indiana, extracted it with ethanol, and distributed precise tinctures to doctors and pharmacists. Prescribed for pain, sleeplessness, muscle spasms, and nervous tension. During the early 1900s, cannabis was a mainstream medicine widely available in pharmacies.
Those original Parke-Davis tincture bottles still exist today in museum collections. Small, amber, clearly labeled. When you see one, the message is obvious: cannabis medicine was real, documented, and trusted.
Phase 3: The Dark Age
By the early 20th century, politicians ended it. Cannabis was removed from pharmacies, medical texts, and research labs. From 1937 to the early 2000s, nearly all progress stopped. Smoking filled the void because it was fast, discreet, and no tools were needed. Cannabis medicine survived quietly in kitchens, passed down by word of mouth, dosed by trial and error.
Phase 4: The Return — With Precision
In the 2010s, state legalization and food science moved together. Researchers understood how to keep hydrophobic cannabinoids stable in water-based systems through technology such as nanoemulsion. In the nanoemulsion system, cannabinoids such as THC or CBD are encapsulated within its oil phase, which is protected by a layer of emulsifier, making it suspended within water in stability. Dosing became predictable, and effects became repeatable. Cannabis medicine was back, this time with the science to back it up.
From Eli Lilly to phytoRX: Passing on the Healing Story
The recent launch of phytoRX has gained quite some attention within the medical cannabis community. I was involved in its early concept with Harold. When he told me what emulsified cannabinoids can do, I told Harold, if what you claimed is true, then it would check all the boxes for the next generation cannabis therapeutics.
Since the very first trial of phytoRX, I became a fan and saw its potential to change the game. It makes consuming therapeutic cannabis easy, consistent, and effective. I have been introducing phytoRX to my community because I truly believe it will benefit lots of people.
Look at an original Eli Lilly cannabis tincture bottle, then look at a phytoRX bottle. Different century, different technology but the same intent of using plant medicine to heal! phytoRX isn’t a completely new idea but a continuation of a 200-year medical tradition. I am so glad to see that what was interrupted in 1937 is finally being continued.
100 Years of Therapeutic Cannabis Evolution from Eli Lily to phytoRX
The history of drinking cannabis is really a history of using the plant with intention. People across centuries kept arriving at the same conclusion: when cannabis is meant to heal, drinking it makes sense. Science is now there to prove why. And the next chapter of cannabis medicine is being written, one dose at a time.