During the Ottoman Empire, some people used to chat and play various games with cannabis in places called cannabis lodges.
these days, drugs, unsolved murders, mafia etc. Then we went back to the 90's. However, such problems have always existed in these lands. essentially all over the world.
Marijuana, which we know even used by the Sumerians, was preferred as a drug by the people in the Ottoman Empire. These pleasing substances, which even some sects considered legitimate in history, could be bought and sold except for the periods of some sultans; It was enjoyable to drink.
To give some information; Since opium was called "tiryak" in the Ottoman period, the word "tiryâkî" comes from here, in the sense of using opium. Of course, the word has expanded in meaning over time and has also been used for other addictions.
According to Evliya Çelebi, there were 16 shops selling cannabis or cannabis paste in Istanbul at that time! Beng satan with its common name at that time. If we talk about the consumption of cannabis at that time; People used to consume cannabis by eating cannabis paste. Bursa is the main production center of cannabis!
The places we call cannabis lodge are the places where cannabis junkies gather and beautify their minds. Of course, they are the ones who named these places as dervish lodges. In these lodges, which were widespread in the vicinity of Aksaray and Tahtakale, the people used to draw the substances I mentioned together, chat and play various games. The reason why cannabis lodges are not as common as coffee houses is because those who get high here sometimes get into fights or taunt people.
According to Evliya Çelebi, cannabis lodges were much more common in the Afyon region at that time. The reason is that the women living in this region are at least as fond of opium as the men and they do not give the men peace at home. Men who are tired of their women meet in these lodges in the evenings and buy opium and so on. they consume.
The cannabis trade, or more precisely, the export of cannabis paste, which has become more and more widespread in Istanbul, to Europe has also accelerated, especially after the fourth Murad. Comparing wine and cannabis by Charles Baudelaire in his work Les paradis artificiels, cannabis is a cannabis paste brought to Europe from the Ottoman Empire.
