CHINESE POT STASH POINTS TO BONG DYNASTY

OTTAWA -- Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash
of marijuana in a tomb in a remote part of China.

The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly
"cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for
clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of
Experimental Botany.

The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired,
blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near
Turpan in northwestern China.

The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives,
allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which
still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odour.

"To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest
documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent," says
the newly published paper, whose lead author was American neurologist
Dr. Ethan B. Russo.

Remnants of cannabis have been found in ancient Egypt and other
sites.

But the tomb stash is the oldest so far that could be thoroughly
tested for its properties.