A. Abdulla, a physician practising in Cairo and in a smaller town of the Nile Delta recently published his observations on various aspects of the cannabis problem. He gives various reasons for the tendency cf the Egyptian population to smoke cannabis In the course of centuries of foreign domination, the Egyptians lost hope, became indifferent and looked for some form of euphoria; many foreigners, who were answerabl only to their own countries, which had less severe regulations against cannabis and opiates, became drug traffickers; the alcohol prohibition for Mohammedans caused them to look for some compensation which they found in cannabis; female circumcision, with the resultant decrease in sexual excitability, induced the male partner to smoke cannabis, which in the opinion of the population prolongs the sexual act; and lastly, cannabis can be used without chemical or other highly technical preparation and, because of its cheapness, is easily obtainable even by the poor.