Not The ‘Root Of All Evil’

IN response to the ‘Legalise It!’ letter written by an anonymous reader: I can’t help but agree with the sentiments of the letter in question, but I feel that, beside the medical uses, there are more reasons to justify the legalisation of marijuana as a medicinal and a recreational drug.

Let us face facts, millions of people around the world use marijuana to relax after a day’s work. Some have a beer, others smoke a cigarette.The only difference is that alcohol and cigarettes are legal and have been legal for quite some time.They are now taxable drugs and provide an income for government and public alike.The hypocrisy of this obviously doesn’t warrant legalisation, but it makes you question the law nonetheless.Besides the fact that marijuana has been proven to be less harmful than alcohol (you can’t overdose on the weed, for one) it also contains no physically addictive chemicals like nicotine.People have smoked marijuana on and off for years, sometimes smoking a lot during a week, then not smoking anything for months on end.They do not get the craving for a joint as they would for a cigarette.This alone makes me question the validity of prohibition on this plant, never mind the increase in penance for consumption.Add to that fact that policing the private life of its citizens is an almost impossible thing to do; Government is looking at a fight that will put countless youths in jail for nothing more than having a joint on them, or even smoking it.The potential for devastation amongst the nation’s youth is tremendous if you look at other countries and their ‘War on Drugs’.The US already made the mistake of mandatory minimum sentences back in the 70s under Nixon.All it did is put thousands of young people in jail for having smoked a plant.Now they have a criminal record, can’t get a job in most public service sectors and on top of that, make contact in jail with real criminals, con-men and drug dealers which often lead to more crime once they’re outside again.After all, they can’t get a job anymore.What do you expect? They smoked dagga, so they’re bad people right? Which, in a roundabout fashion, leads me to my next point of interest – that of marijuana “slander”.Let me just say that the public (the whole world, in fact) has been subject to propaganda about Cannabis since before Harry J.Anslinger was put in charge of the Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics.It was with him that things got into full gear, though.Some say he was right-wing conservative and prohibitionist, others say that he just used the marijuana issue as a means of elevating himself to national prominence – either way, he started an all-out war on marijuana, prompting campaigns like the wonderfully patronising ‘Just say NO!’ campaign.No explanation, no scientific inquiry or debate – marijuana got labelled an devil drug which makes you kill people (we know it doesn’t do that), or when that reason started losing credibility, it was said that I would make you crazy (we know it doesn’t do that) and when that started sounding old, we were told that you’d become a dysfunctional loser with no ambition.Thousands of people who smoke dagga are perfectly functional parts of society – they passed high school, they went to college and have a job.I’m one of them.Then of course there’s the story of marijuana being a gateway drug, something which also doesn’t have any basis in scientific research or even a public consensus.Let me tell you that I’ve never had the urge to try something harder.Marijuana makes me yearn for harder drugs about as much as a strong coffee makes me yearn for a brandy and coke – which is to say, it doesn’t.I do not advocate the use of marijuana over other drugs, or the use of drugs at all, but there are better ways to deal with this than just sticking everyone in a jail cell – and let’s face it, most people will go to jail simply because they can’t come up with the (ridiculous) amount of N$300 000 or more.This law was passed with little research or debate and therefore shouldn’t even be considered valid.For one, I’d ask Government to please draw a distinction between marijuana and artificially created drugs like heroin and cocaine.They are worlds apart and every impartial study conducted since this whole debacle started will attest to this.This law will cause more damage to Namibia than the drug itself.We, as citizens, must express our grievances to government – and if it is in any way worthy of our trust and vote, Government must abolish a law we do not want upheld.To the public: Please do not take everything as gospel.Just because a promotional poster lambastes marijuana as a gateway drug or the root of all evil, does not make it so.A plant cannot be held responsible for society’s downfalls – that is what every right-wing zealot wants you to think.Do your own research – don’t let yourself be spoon-fed select information that only serves a certain agenda instead of informing us of all the facts.PS: I’m not hurting society, I’m not hurting myself (well, no more than the average guy on a Friday night in Joe’s Beerhouse) – why should I be punished for it? What did I do wrong? Anon 2 Via e-mailSome have a beer, others smoke a cigarette.The only difference is that alcohol and cigarettes are legal and have been legal for quite some time.They are now taxable drugs and provide an income for government and public alike.The hypocrisy of this obviously doesn’t warrant legalisation, but it makes you question the law nonetheless.Besides the fact that marijuana has been proven to be less harmful than alcohol (you can’t overdose on the weed, for one) it also contains no physically addictive chemicals like nicotine.People have smoked marijuana on and off for years, sometimes smoking a lot during a week, then not smoking anything for months on end.They do not get the craving for a joint as they would for a cigarette.This alone makes me question the validity of prohibition on this plant, never mind the increase in penance for consumption.Add to that fact that policing the private life of its citizens is an almost impossible thing to do; Government is looking at a fight that will put countless youths in jail for nothing more than having a joint on them, or even smoking it.The potential for devastation amongst the nation’s youth is tremendous if you look at other countries and their ‘War on Drugs’.The US already made the mistake of mandatory minimum sentences back in the 70s under Nixon.All it did is put thousands of young people in jail for having smoked a plant.Now they have a criminal record, can’t get a job in most public service sectors and on top of that, make contact in jail with real criminals, con-men and drug dealers which often lead to more crime once they’re outside again.After all, they can’t get a job anymore.What do you expect? They smoked dagga, so they’re bad people right? Which, in a roundabout fashion, leads me to my next point of interest – that of marijuana “slander”.Let me just say that the public (the whole world, in fact) has been subject to propaganda about Cannabis since before Harry J.Anslinger was put in charge of the Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics.It was with him that things got into full gear, though.Some say he was right-wing conservative and prohibitionist, others say that he just used the marijuana issue as a means of elevating himself to national prominence – either way, he started an all-out war on marijuana, prompting campaigns like the wonderfully patronising ‘Just say NO!’ campaign.No explanation, no scientific inquiry or debate – marijuana got labelled an devil drug which makes you kill people (we know it doesn’t do that), or when that reason started losing credibility, it was said that I would make you crazy (we know it doesn’t do that) and when that started sounding old, we were told that you’d become a dysfunctional loser with no ambition.Thousands of people who smoke dagga are perfectly functional parts of society – they passed high school, they went to college and have a job.I’m one of them.Then of course there’s the story of marijuana being a gateway drug, something which also doesn’t have any basis in scientific research or even a public consensus.Let me tell you that I’ve never had the urge to try something harder.Marijuana makes me yearn for harder drugs about as much as a strong coffee makes me yearn for a brandy and coke – which is to say, it doesn’t.I do not advocate the use of marijuana over other drugs, or the use of drugs at all, but there are better ways to deal with this than just sticking everyone in a jail cell – and let’s face it, most people will go to jail simply because they can’t come up with the (ridiculous) amount of N$300 000 or more.This law was passed with little research or debate and therefore shouldn’t even be considered valid.For one, I’d ask Government to please draw a distinction between marijuana and artificially created drugs like heroin and cocaine.They are worlds apart and every impartial study conducted since this whole debacle started will attest to this.This law will cause more damage to Namibia than the drug itself.We, as citizens, must express our grievances to government – and if it is in any way worthy of our trust and vote, Government must abolish a law we do not want upheld.To the public: Please do not take everything as gospel.Just because a promotional poster lambastes marijuana as a gateway drug or the root of all evil, does not make it so.A plant cannot be held responsible for society’s downfalls – that is what every right-wing zealot wants you to think.Do your own research – don’t let yourself be spoon-fed select information that only serves a certain agenda instead of informing us of all the facts.PS: I’m not hurting society, I’m not hurting myself (well, no more than the average guy on a Friday night in Joe’s Beerhouse) – why should I be punished for it? What did I do wrong? Anon 2 Via e-mail