Cannabis indica
Made from Indian hemp — the plant whose THC chemistry is genuinely pharmacological and genuinely medical, and the classical remedy of the time-and-space distortion.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of a mind unmoored from time and space: minutes stretching like hours, the body feeling enormous or tiny, sounds and colours overwhelming, an unquenchable thirst with a dry mouth, the books' great remedy of the hashish-intoxication picture applied to the disordered nervous system. The unmoored mind: that is Cannabis indica.
The substance, in plain words
Indian hemp is the cannabis plant of Asia, its THC one of the most-studied psychoactive molecules in pharmacology — genuinely active at the brain's own cannabinoid receptors, and the source of real, licensed medicines. The proving gave the remedy its portrait of the time-and-space distortion, written in the era of the hashish experiments of the French Romantic writers.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Distortion of time and space. The keynote of the mind: minutes pass like hours; distances alter; the self feels enormous or shrunken — the books' celebrated hashish picture.
- Overwhelming senses. Sounds seem to come from far away; light is too bright; every sense exaggerated.
- Anxiety and fear. Fear of losing the mind, worse in the quiet, under the distortion.
The body
- Dry mouth with unquenchable thirst. The keynote: a dry, sticky mouth with a thirst nothing quenches.
- Distorted bodily sensations. The body feels too large or too small, parts swollen or distant — the books' catalogue of the distortion.
- Urinary and uterine association The books add the urinary irritation of the proving.
- Worse the quiet and the dark. Solitude and darkness deepen the distortion — company and light steady it.
- Headaches of the hashish type The congestive, bursting headache of the proving.
- Better for company and open air. Company, light and fresh air — the quoted ameliorations of the unmoored state.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| the quiet and darkness; solitude; evening; cold. | company; light; open air. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Mind (distortion, senses), nervous system, mouth and thirst, urinary tract.
Where the classical picture comes from
The hashish-intoxication experiments of the 1840s gave the proving its frame — Moreau de Tours' 'Hashish and Mental Alienation' and the Romantics' Club des Haschischins; Cannabis indica became the classical remedy of the distorted mind, the books' record of the era's great self-experiment.
The substance in real medicine Pharmacology
What this section is: the pharmacology and toxicology of the source substance. It is not clinical evidence that a homeopathic preparation of it treats any condition. What controlled trials do and do not show is set out on the Evidence page.
THC is genuinely pharmacological: the discovery of the brain's own cannabinoid receptors and endocannabinoids transformed neuroscience, and THC-derived medicines are real — dronabinol treats chemotherapy nausea and wasting, cannabidiol treats certain epilepsies, and the plant's medical chemistry is a genuine, regulated, growing field. The proving's distortion picture is the drug's own pharmacology, catalogued a century before the receptor was found.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Nux moschata | Drowsy distortion | Nux-moschata is drowsy, dry and absurdly changeable; Cannabis unmoored from time and space. |
| Belladonna | Disturbed senses | Belladonna is hot, red and throbbing; Cannabis is the quiet, distorted time-sense. |
| Coffea cruda | Overwrought senses | Coffea is the excited, acute-sensed sleeplessness; Cannabis the distorted, unmoored mind. |
| Opium | Altered consciousness | Opium is heavy, dark and painless; Cannabis is light, distorted and thirsting. |