Scientists Might Have Just Found Where Cannabis Originally Came From

It's long been known that cannabis plants are indigenous to Central Asia, but a new study provides a fresh focus on where exactly this genus may have first evolved millions of years ago.

"Despite a voluminous literature emerging in the last three decades, the classification of cannabis and its centre of origin remains under debate," a team led by first author and medical researcher John McPartland from the University of Vermont explains in a new paper.

"Cannabis flourishes in steppe – an open, treeless habitat," the researchers write.

In the new study, McPartland and his team sifted through 155 existing fossil pollen studies centered on Asia.

Read more