CANNUSE, the database of traditional uses

Cannabis is one of the most versatile genera in terms of plant uses and is nowadays the centre of many scientific studies. While much research focus is aimed at developing new plant use applications, its traditional uses, scattered across many publication sources, are gaining less attention and are slowly disappearing. Our database provides an organised standardises open-access information source gathered from 649 publications from all over the world, related to medicinal, alimentary, fibre and other Cannabis uses around the world. The database will serve as a starting point for new research and development strategies based on the traditional knowledge of Cannabis use, in many different scientific fields. Our publication search was carried out in four major online databases - Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar, using the following set of keywords and exact terms: Cannabis AND ("folk medicine" OR "traditional medicine" OR “ethnobotany” OR “traditional knowledge”). During the screening process, we eliminated references that were not 1) published in English language and 2) not published by the end of October 2020, and 3) that did not obtain the information included through ethnobotanical interviews. In order to avoid duplication, information obtained from review papers and books was only used when original research papers could not be found. In further steps, papers containing inconsistencies (e.g., incorrect citations, unclear uses, uses in review papers not matching with the original research papers) were also eliminated. Additional references cited in relevant ethnobotanical papers were added using the snowball method. The data included in this version were obtained only from references written in English, while publications in other languages were up to this point excluded. Ethnobotanical research is often published in lesser known, local journals, which are not written in English, so many additional uses remain to be included in future updates planned. The database has been constructed on 15/01/2021 and no updates has been made so far.