Cannabis Usage in Tamriel
by Dervyn Releth
Cannabis, usually grown in Cyrodiil and High Rock, is used in many Tamrielic products. It sees usage in bedding, paper and rope material, and in some cultures is used in food. Of course, these uses are not the ones we are interested in discussing in this book.
It is widely known that cannabis can also be used as a psychoactive drug called marijuana. Recreational use of this drug is second only to skooma in all provinces, and in some provinces (Cyrodiil, Skyrim, Daggerfall and Wayrest, to be precise) is completely legal.
The first recorded usage of cannabis dates back to the Merethic Era, during the latter years of High King Ylgar's reign. Ylgar was a "high" king in more ways than one - one of his favorite pastimes and a perennial activity among his court was to take cannabis after discussions on laws. Marijuana has always been legal in Skyrim as a result, with the only attempt to curtail its usage being from the hugely unpopular Potema Septim.
Among other things, the excesses of the Reman Empire included extensive marijuana consumption. Reman II reportedly once summoned the Daedra Lord Sanguine in order to share an immense pie baked with marijuana with him.
Tiber Septim's stance on marijuana smoking is still being hotly debated among scholars. While some maintain that he was decidedly neutral on it, anti-marijuana activists point to The Lilandril Incident as evidence of his strict condemnation of the drug, despite the popular conception that said case was mostly fictionalized propaganda.
Count Vergetrus was a popular figure in Uriel V's court, and one of the first nobles to support the emperor's invasion of Akavir. It is a little-known fact that he consumed marijuana before making any of his tactical decisions, a contributing factor to the war's failure.
Although technically outlawed in Morrowind, marijuana usage has seen popularity among lower-ranking Telvanni nobles. As such, and in concert with its inherently psychedelic properties, marijuana has been associated with wizards and magic. These rumors are not entirely untrue - the author confesses to enjoying a cup of coffee with some of the drug inside it from time to time - but marijuana has been proven to hamper magickal ability with its effects.