Cannabis, Sacred and Profane

Focussing on the ways in which cannabis been demonized, sacralized and normalized, Christopher Partridge analyses the complex and often difficult relationship Western societies have had with the plant since the nineteenth century.

After an introduction to cannabis and its uses, the book discusses how and why it was constructed as a profane influence and a marker of deviance. It then examines the emergence of medicinal cannabis, showing how this has contributed to its normalization and even its sacralization. Finally, there is a discussion of sacred cannabis, which looks at its use within modern occultism, Rastafari and several cannabis churches.

Overall, the book provides a cultural history of cannabis in the modern world, which exposes the underlying reasons for the various and changing attitudes to this popular psychoactive substance.

Christopher Partridge is Professor of Religious Studies and Director of Research at Lancaster University, UK. He is editor of the series Bloomsbury Studies in Religion and Popular Music, and the author of several books, including High Culture: Drugs, Mysticism, and the Pursuit of Transcendence in the Modern World (2018), Mortality and Music (2015), The Lyre of Orpheus (2013