Experts have discovered that early humans began enjoying the highs of cannabis almost 10,000 years ago.

It is believed that tribes in Europe and Asia picked the plant around the same time as Europe's glaciers started to retreat.

However, while in the present day it is predominantly known for the psychoactive high that users enjoy - it was not the sole reason that early man cultivated it, reports the Sunday Times.

Experts have discovered that early humans began enjoying the highs of cannabis almost 10,000 years ago

Tribes picked the plant for its nutritional seeds and for its hemp fibres that could be made into clothes.

It appears that humans were enjoying getting high on cannabis long before they knocking back a drink or two, with the drug pre-dating alcohol by around 3,000 years.

Tengwen Long, a researcher from the German Archaeological Institute, who carried out the study told the Times: 'The cannabis plant seems to be have been distributed widely from as early as 10,000 years ago.'

However, it wasn't until 5,000 years later that it is claimed humans started to realise there was money to be made by the drug and Bronze Age herders began to use animals to trade it with other tribes.