The Grand History of Cannabis | Mexico
After we finished the book and art about the Dutch, we decided that our next step was to focus on the Americas — from the South, through Mexico, finishing in the USA and Canada. During our research, we discovered that there was one country that could stand alone as a piece of art and a book. That’s how rich the history of cannabis is in Mexico: a 500-year-old cannabis history, a nation and a people deeply intertwined with this plant.
Now, us being certified gringos from Europe, it felt, at least for me, a bit strange to depict a culture and country that is far from what I am used to or know. Being a white Western male, I figured I better try my very, very best to make sure I do this job diligently, without falling back on stereotypes — or at least trying to treat those symbols with the utmost respect.
We soon figured we better reach out to the local cannabis community in Mexico — so we did. Our writer and team of researchers and activists travelled across the ocean to meet with local activists, writers, club owners and cannabis militants. In this adventure, we were so lucky — and I could say blessed — that we made the acquaintance of Juan Pablo García Vallejo...
An eminent historian and tireless activist, Juan Pablo García Vallejo is recognised for his in-depth research into the history and cultural impact of cannabis in Mexico. His numerous texts constitute a major contribution to the ongoing debate, offering a rich perspective on the complex relationship his country has maintained with the plant over the past five hundred years.
we asked Juan Pablo to be our editor and he gladly agreed to take on this role. here is the foreword that was written by him for the book about Mexico
The people that forged the Mexican cannabis Nation
Foreword by: Juan Pablo García Vallejo
I would like to thank Mossy Giant and Stefan van Swieten for inviting me to write the foreword for a book that will undoubtedly become a cult work within the Mexican cannabis community.
1. On the existence of drug culture, the history of drugs, and that of cannabis.
For many people, the knowledge, study, and experimentation with drugs still represent a significant obstacle. This is not due to the taboo or stigma traditionally associated with the topic, but rather the difficulty of finding an entry point into this controversial field. Drug culture is an integral part of society.
Until the end of the 1980s, we had “a” history of drugs; and since 2005, we have a method for the study of any drug in itself. Going beyond the pharmacological dogma that drugs have the same effect on everyone equally, the goal is now to study any psychoactive substance—historical or fashionable, like fentanyl or mushrooms—within a specific social group and to understand its consequences, both good and bad.
2. Foreigners know more about marihuana than Mexicans.
Foreign specialists in the study of drugs have brought valuable discoveries and new perspectives on marihuana, while this same knowledge often remains an insurmountable taboo for Mexican Catholic society. For example, when the arrival of cannabis with the Spanish is mentioned, many believe that the latter were already indulging in this gentle practice, which is an anachronism. David T. Courtwright teaches us that the Spanish had no interest in the psychoactive properties of hemp, and on the contrary, according to the microhistory of marihuana in Mexico, everything indicates that hashish was demonized by the Spanish starting in 1484. Another example: the transition from the Spanish textile use to the medicinal use by the indigenous population. A curious Mexican might object that no sources exist to clarify this phenomenon; however, historian Ernest L. Abel clearly explains that the major cultural shift from hemp to cannabis occurred around the mid-16th century. From the perspective of Mexican cannabis microhistory, the trigger for this change was the dramatic demographic decline of the population and the psychoactive exchange between the two cultures.
cover of the Grand History of Cannabis: Mexico (Spanish Hardcover Ed.)
The formation of a nation requires three elements: the novel, the press, and democracy. Marihuana can be found from the very emergence of a national literature. El Periquillo Sarniento by José Joaquín Eugenio Fernández de Lizardi was published in 1816 in the midst of the war of independence. This picaresque novel is considered the first of a nation in the making, and when he writes “house of the girl,” according to the English researcher Albert L. Donnell, one should read “the marihuanos”— the joint smokers. The word was invented by women in kitchens and authorized in 1530 in Santiago Tlatelolco, the site of the Marian apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It is important to note that, when discussing the history of marihuana, everything proceeds from the informal and then becomes formalized, everything is invisible before becoming visible. It was a French artist, Jean Charlot, who contributed to the fame and dissemination of Don Lupe, an artist later known as José Guadalupe Posada, the creator of Don Chepito Marihuano. Another fact of utmost importance: smoking in the street. Today, many do it regularly without knowing that the first person to do so without shame or fear was the Colombian-Mexican poet Porfirio Barba Jacob. It is yet another non-Mexican, Matt Thomson, who puts forward a theory about the origin and emergence of the word “marihuana.” According to him, it is a global name involving three cultures: European, Pre-Hispanic, and African. History teaches us that the use of the word is more important than its meaning.
3. In the 19th century, marihuana entered popular culture.
In the secular society of independent Mexico, where the press and science dominated, marihuana always received an ambivalent treatment. It was once tolerated for its medicinal properties, but its indigenous consumers were discriminated against because they were too associated with misery. Be that as it may, despite resistance, marihuana continued its path, accompanying the emergence of various expressions of popular culture such as corridos, theatre, novels, poetry, etc. Over time, the marihuana consumer went from anonymity to being a comic book character, from musical theatre to an integrated citizen simply enjoying life.
4. The greatest creators of 20th-century Mexican culture were cannabis users.
Many are unaware of the importance of marihuana in the cultural creation of Mexican artists like Diego Rivera and the entire Mexican school of painting, as well as among icons of popular culture in cinema.
5. Marihuana was involved in Mexico’s four literary revolutions.
Literature is one of the fertile grounds for the growth and maturation of the cannabis community and its culture. A source of the history of cannabis and its users, it teaches us that the Romantics, the Modernists, the Estridentists, the Contemporaries, and the literature of La Onda all included cannabis in their literary and personal themes.
6. In the 21st century, with the rise of cannabis culture, marihuana is more present than in previous centuries.
In spanish, the word “marihuana” is feminine, whereas the word for vice is masculine. From its origins to the present day, women have always played a large role in the history of cannabis. A clandestine network of superstition and magic used it for thousands of years; the female warriors of the Mexican Revolution, prisoners, female legislators, young activists, cultivating mothers, and witches have all contributed to the dissemination of marihuana.
Juan Pablo and Stefan, the editor and writer of the Mexico edition, both discussing the book about the Dutch in Mexico City, Mexico back in 2024
The artwork display in social club La Creme Gracia during the exhibition even in Barcelona during the last, ever, Spannabis weekend 2025
7. The Grand History of Cannabis is Mexico.
It is a sensational, entertaining, and enlightening work with psychedelic colours. Stefan van Swieten reveals his profound love for the culture and history of Mexico, and for marihuana in particular. Stefan has selected and historically explained the key moments, essential characters, humorous, and sometimes tragic events related to marihuana and its Mexican epic. His colleague Mossy Giant has depicted each of these situations and essential characters. He represents them in the telluric and lacustrine landscape of Tenochtitlán. Its volcanoes, cactus, nopales, mushrooms, as well as a dozen fantastic and wonderful beings. It is an entertaining, critical, and sometimes humorous narrative that follows a different periodization than the one traditionally used. Here, you will be guided through the different, now ancient, uses of cannabis in Mexico.
It is a major contribution to the historiography of Mexican cannabis culture, which is going through a positive period where a possible path for a common future with cannabis is finally opening up. It is a masterful work of art by these activists who love Mexico. My thanks and congratulations.
Juan Pablo García Vallejo
Texcoco, Texcoco, State of Mexico,
August 2025.
