Illustration of W. B. O’Shaughnessy at work in the laboratory, artist and date unknown.
Featured on PDR in the essay W. B. O’Shaughnessy and the Introduction of Cannabis to Modern Western Medicine
Cataleptic trances, enormous appetites, and giggling fits aside, W. B. O'Shaughnessy's investigations at a Calcutta hospital into the potential of medical marijuana — the first such trials in modern medicine — were largely positive. Sujaan Mukherjee explores the intricacies of this pioneering research and what it can tell us more generally about the production of knowledge in colonial science.