ROOTS IN DETROIT & INDIANA (LATE 1890s)
In the late 19th century, pharmaceutical giants Parke-Davis (Detroit) and Eli Lilly (Indianapolis) teamed up to stabilize cannabis cultivation in the United States. Eli Lilly’s Greenfield, Indiana farm became the central testing ground for a domestic cannabis supply marketed as “Cannabis Americana.”
WHY GROW LOCAL?
Imports of “Cannabis Indica” from India were notoriously inconsistent in potency and quality. Parke-Davis wanted to control every step “from planting to final marketing.” Cannabis Americana offered a standardized, American-grown alternative for doctors and pharmacies.
THE FARM & GARDENS
Lilly ran experimental fields in Greenfield, while Parke-Davis maintained botanical gardens and the Parkedale farm in Michigan. Rows of cannabis grew alongside coca plants and opium poppies, making it America’s first large-scale, documented cannabis grow.
EXTRACTION SCIENCE
The flagship product was Fluid Extract of Cannabis Americana, made by percolating dried female tops in 80% alcohol. Solid extracts were also produced. Bottles carried the stark label warning: “A powerful sedative & narcotic.”
QC BEFORE THC
In 1908, Parke-Davis pioneered physiological standardization—dog bioassays that compared each batch against a reference lot to ensure consistent potency. This was decades before THC itself was discovered, yet it gave doctors reliable dosing.
CATALOG PROOF (1910)
Parke-Davis catalogues listed Cannabis Americana at $1.65 per pound, packaged in one-ounce packets or cardboard boxes. These price lists serve as some of the earliest documented examples of cannabis sold as a standardized commodity in the United States.
DOCTOR’S ORDERS
Physicians prescribed Cannabis Americana for insomnia, chronic pain, cough, epilepsy, and “nervous disorders.” Tinctures and extracts appeared on pharmacy shelves alongside morphine, quinine, and cocaine-based medicines.
MAINSTREAM REACH
By the 1910s through the 1930s, Cannabis Americana had become widely distributed across the United States. Parke-Davis even published 16-page educational booklets for physicians, complete with detailed botanical plates showing male and female cannabis plants.
THE DECLINE (1937)
The Marihuana Tax Act effectively ended the production of Cannabis Americana. After decades of integration into American medicine, Parke-Davis and Lilly quietly discontinued the brand as prohibitionist policies took hold.
LEGACY
Cannabis Americana was the United States’ first branded cannabis farm and strain, transforming a folk remedy into a pharmaceutical commodity. It laid the groundwork for standardized cultivation, extraction, and marketing practices that echo into today’s regulated cannabis industry.
Presented by Nugg Notes
Sources: Ball, Linda. “Rich History of Cannabis on Display at Seattle Museum.” The Spokesman-Review, 27 Oct. 2017, spokesman.com/stories/2017/o. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025. (Confirms Lilly × Parke-Davis collaboration; 1910 Parke-Davis catalog price $1.65/lb and packaging in 1-oz packets/cardboard boxes.) Wren, Adam. “Eli Lilly’s Hazy Memory: Marijuana.” Indianapolis Monthly, 19 Mar. 2019, indianapolismonthly.com/longform/eli-l. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025. (Places cultivation at Lilly’s Greenfield, Indiana farm; describes work w/ Parke-Davis on Cannabis Americana.) Houghton, E. M., and H. C. Hamilton. “A Pharmacological Study of Cannabis Americana (Cannabis sativa).” American Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 80, 1908, pp. 16–20. samorini.it/doc1/alt_aut/e. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025. (Details Parke-Davis physiological standardization—dog bioassays—for batch potency control.) “Cannabis, Fluid Extract, U.S.P. (American Cannabis).” National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, americanhistory.si.edu/collections/ob. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025. (Parke-Davis bottle record; “American Cannabis” labeling & context.) “Cannabis, Fluid Extract, U.S.P.X. (Cannabis sativa).” National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, americanhistory.si.edu/collections/ob. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025. (Label notes 80% alcohol; packaging & warnings.) “Exhibition: Marijuana (Pick Your Poison).” U.S. National Library of Medicine, nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/pic. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025. (Reproduces Parke-Davis label text: “ALCOHOL, 80 PER CENT,” “A POWERFUL SEDATIVE & NARCOTIC,” item no. 598.) Parke, Davis & Co. “Cannabis Americana.” O’Shaughnessy’s (reprint). BeyondTHC, 2016, beyondthc.com/wp-content/upl. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025. (16-page physician booklet; claim of control “from planting … to final marketing,” dosage tables, plant plates.) “Parke Davis Farm.” Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm, City of Rochester Hills, cms9files.revize.com/rochesterhills. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025. (Documents Parkedale Farm in Michigan; notes growing “exotic plants” for medicines.) “Cannabis, Fluid Extract—From the Parke, Davis & Company 1929–1930 Physicians’ Catalog.” Schaffer Library of Drug Policy, druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025. (States extract prepared from Cannabis sativa grown in America; dosing context.) “Price List: 1910–1911 · Parke, Davis & Co.” Wirtshafter Collection—Cannabis Museum, cannabismuseum.com/omeka/items/br. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025. (Artifact listing for the 1910–11 Parke-Davis catalog underlying the $1.65/lb citation.)
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