Originally Posted by Taylan
Cannabis doesn't have the rich history that alcohol has, does it? Beer, rum, wine etc. are drinks that are both ancient and ubiquitous around the world, having their place in pretty much every culture. Things like tobacco, cannabis, etc. are more regionally and historically limited. (When I say historically limited I don't mean that they didn't exist at all in ancient times but rather that they haven't been ubiquitous throughout history alcohol.)
Well...
Quote
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis#History
According to genetic and archaeological evidence, cannabis was first domesticated about 12,000 years ago in East Asia during the early Neolithic period. The use of cannabis as a mind-altering drug has been documented by archaeological finds in prehistoric societies in Eurasia and Africa.
That's about the same time when people started to make proto-beer from wheat and barley in Fertile Crescent. Although, "domesticated" != "being used".

Think it through, however:
  • Cannabis is a plant which grows by itself in any suitable climate. You don't have to do anything with it to get high, apart from optionally drying it, maybe.
  • With alcohol, you have to start with some plant rich in carbohydrates, and find a way to ferment it, which generally would require at least pottery. Not all regions of the planet were equally lucky with this: Australia, Siberia (and to a certain extent North America) had no exposure to any alcohol until the arrival of Europeans precisely due to the lack of suitable local cereals. And to distil that gruel, well that would require a still, which is a pure magick compared to a plant that doesn't require much care.


The only reason why alcohol has spread earlier and faster is that wild cannabis has a relatively small areal, while booze can be made from any kind of starch or sugars. However, it's safe to say that, by the time of Columbus, cannabis was as widespread as wine, at the very least. For example, Classical Greeks and Romans knew about cannabis and used it.