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🔗 The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission 1893–1894

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The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission report (1894) is often highly lauded by those who approve of its recommendation in favour of the regulation and taxation of cannabis. This paper discusses the report in the light of current evidence. The Commission found that excessive ganja use could cause psychosis, but such use was rare. It recommended that cannabis should be regulated and taxed rather than prohibited, because most cannabis use did not cause harm, regulation and taxation would limit excessive use and prohibition would prevent its medical use and generate an illicit cannabis market. The report's analysis of the role of cannabis in psychosis is consistent with recent epidemiological evidence. Historical scholarship, however, raises serious doubts about the extent to which the Commission's findings on cannabis regulation were affected …

🔗 Is eating behavior manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota? Evolutionary pressures and potential mechanisms

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Microbes in the gastrointestinal tract are under selective pressure to manipulate host eating behavior to increase their fitness, sometimes at the expense of host fitness. Microbes may do this through two potential strategies: (i) generating cravings for foods that they specialize on or foods that suppress their competitors, or (ii) inducing dysphoria until we eat foods that enhance their fitness.