1876: Hash Reaches America

From the 1860’s through the early 1900’s, World Fairs and International Expositions featured a Turkish Hashish Smoking exhibit and concession. This exotic foreign activity of smoking hashish was immensely popular with the American public, although extremely new: it’s effects came on quickly. However the smoking of hashish is about a third as potent as the oral ingestion of cannabis extract medicines that US pharmacies were used to distributing, completely legally at this time.

In 1876, America hosted a huge Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, at which fair goers flocked through the Turkish Hashish Exposition, indulging in the Eastern delicacy, enhancing their experience of the marvellous fair attractions.

By 1883, hashish smoking parlors had spread across the United States, and were legally open in every major American City, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, and so on. Over500 hash parlors were operating within New York City in this decade, and even 40 years later, during the times of alcohol prohibition, hash parlors still outnumbered the infamous speak-easys that the era was known for.