The Arabic people have been smoking hashish for thousands of years. Pot has been used as a medicine for longer than that in just about every part of the world. If it had an origin, it might have been Atlantis or Lemuria. There may have been one strain indigenous to America, perhaps Indica, but I believe Sativa originated in India. Back in the day, I smoked pot and hash from all over the world, but two stood out as being incredibly refined: Nepalese Temple Hash and Moroccan Hash (not the crap that made it here - it was at least 50% camel dung, but the stuff they smoked).
Some people used to "bleed" sick people to get rid of the badness. I get a kick out of the idea that because ancient people did something, it must be inherently good or wise.