Origin and Distribution

Native to Central Asia and long cultivated in Asia, Europe, and China. Now a widespread tropical, temperate, and subarctic cultivar. Cannabis saliva has been cultivated for more than 4500 years for different purposes, such as fiber, oil, or narcotics. The oldest use of hemp is for fiber, and later the seeds were used for culinary purposes. Plants yielding the drug were discovered in India, cultivated for medicinal purposes as early as 900 BC. In medieval times, it was brought to North Africa, where currently it is cultivated exclusively for hashish or kif. 

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This chapter briefly reviews the present understanding of the chemistry, origin, and distribution of the saxitoxins and methods for their detection. The second section of this chapter discusses studies on their pharmacology directed toward an understanding of the molecular basis for their strong, highly selective interaction with the sodium channel binding site. 

Vidal, P., Dosso, L., Bowden, P. Lameyre, J. (1979). Strontium isotope geochemistry in syenite-alkaline granite complexes. In Origin and Distribution of the Elements, ed. L. H. Ahrens, pp. 223-31. Oxford Pergamon. 

Morris, D., Collett, B., Marsh, P. O Shaugnessy, M. 1979. Gestures, their origins and distribution. London Jonathan Cape. 

J.D. KeUeher, Explosives residue origin and distribution . Forensic Sci. Commim., 4 (2002). 

The most important observations which must be rationalized in attempting to account for the origin and distribution of tetrodotoxin may be enumerated as follows ... 

The identification and quantification of active ingredient(s) in a seized material is of great forensic relevance as it enables to qualify the material as an illicit drug or not. In addition, the profiling of street drugs may allow to infer on origin and distribution routes of a confiscated drug. 

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