Nomadic tribes passing through Kazakhstan would pick the plant and then distribute it, selling it along the silk road and other ancient supply routes, to China, to India and to other countries to the west, And in a way cannabis joined the ancient commodities of salt and tea.
经过哈萨克斯坦的游牧民族会采集大麻,然后经丝绸之路或者其它商路贩卖到中国、印度以及其他西方国家。因此,大麻和盐茶一起成为古代贸易商品。
And its progress from that point on became unstoppable.
从那时起,人类对它的依赖从未停息。
From 2700BC cannabis was used in China as a treatment for pain, malaria and constipation.
公元前2700年,中国人就用大麻治疗疼痛、疟疾和便秘。
From there, as it spread along trade and slave routes, cannabis became more closely entwined with human history than any other illicit drug.
从那时起,随着商品和奴隶贸易的频繁,与其他违禁药品相比,大麻在人类的历史上占有了更为重要的地位。
Despite the global and enduring popularity of cannabis, modern science is only just beginning to comprehend its effects.
尽管大麻的使用由来已久而且遍布世界,现代科学对它的认识却才刚刚起步。
Here, just outside Washington DC, scientists are trying, for the first time, to find the density and location of the cannabinoid receptors in the human brain.
就在华盛顿附近,科学家们第一次尝试找出人的大脑中大麻素受体的分布密度和所在位置。
Conducting the research is Dr Garth Terry.
带领这次研究的是加斯·特雷博士。
What stage are you at, what's happening?
进展如何?我们现在要干什么?
We have our volunteer here who is being put into the scanner.
这位是我们的志愿者,我们正在用扫描仪对他检查。
So first we have to make sure his head's in the right position, so he has this white mask on his face.
首先我们要确保他头部的位置准确,所以要带上这个白面具。
What are you injecting him with?
你们给他注射的是什么?
We're injecting him with the radioactive drug, it works like a dye.
是一种带放射性的药物,它是我们的小侦察兵。
It targets only the cannabinoid receptors throughout the entire body.
它只会对大麻素受体产生反应,
And we're imaging the cannabis receptors in the brain.
这样我们就能找到大脑中的大麻素受体。
So this drug will accumulate in the brain and we'll get a picture of where those cannabinoid receptors are, and how dense they are throughout the entire brain.
这种药物会累积在大脑中,我们由此可知这些受体的在脑中的位置,以及分布的疏密。