Researchers at Washington State University found that Aka people of the Congo basin who smoke cannabis have “significantly lower rate” of parasitic worm infection compared to non-cannabis users.
Ed Hagen, a WSU Vancouver anthropologist, explored cannabis use among the Aka foragers to see if people away from the cultural and media influences of Western civilization might use plant toxins medicinally.
“In the same way we have a taste for salt, we might have a taste for psychoactive plant toxins, because these things kill parasites,” he said.
Image: Hookworms attached to the intestinal mucosa, Wikipedia.
