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From cannabis to cologne, Turks flaunt their ‘cures’ to coronavirus

As the number of coronavirus cases quadruples in Turkey, columnists and health gurus return to tradition: soup and cologne.

Municipality workers in protective suits disinfect entrance of Taksim metro station in central Istanbul, Turkey, March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan - RC2ULF95LNH1
Municipality workers in protective suits disinfect entrance of Taksim metro station in central Istanbul, Turkey, March 17, 2020. — REUTERS/Kemal Aslan

As the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reached 98 in Turkey March 17, creative Turks have come up with their own "cures," from cannabis to sheep's trotter soup.

Cannabis tops Turks’ list of absurd cures for COVID-19. Abdurrahman Dilipak, a prominent Islamist columnist for daily Yeni Akit, advocated its use in his March 12 column, suggesting the use of hemp, a subtype of Cannabis sativa plant that grows in central Anatolia, to fight the virus. 

Dilipak wrote that the best remedy against the coronavirus is CBD and THC, and that people can order these substances from abroad or use pure hemp oil if they can find it in Turkey. “It is said that the development of a vaccine against the coronavirus would take six months,” he wrote. “If Turkey decides to increase its cannabis plantation in April, the strong harvest we would get in four months can create a major barrier to the global spread of the virus.”

He urged his readers against receiving vaccines developed abroad, because these would likely contain sterilization agents, tying the whole thing to an Aryan plot.

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