Independent August 24, 2000
By Raffique Shah
HYPOCRISY, I tell you, will be the undoing of this society. Sometimes, listening to prominent people who are the biggest deviants-drunkards, sex molesters, exploiters of women and labour and outright thieves-pontificating on moral issues that are being put forward for debate and discussion, I want to puke. In the latest round, Independent Senator and UWI Professor Ken Ranchand is being lambasted and ridiculed by self-appointed moralists in the country for his rather tame suggestion that we take another look at the laws prohibiting the use of marijuana, to examine the prospect of decriminalising it, and to explore its uses in the medical field.
Ramchand, an outspoken intellectual, admitted to having used the herb for recreational and medicinal purposes when he lived in Jamaica. He said, too, that it was used to flavour cookies and he also whipped up a brew when his children got the cold. Well breds, as Trinis would say, who tell the senator-cum-lecturer to bring into the open what most people know has been going on for decades across the country? Matters not that the use (and abuse) of marijuana is rampant both among the poor and the wealthy in society, by people ranging from street cleaners to big time chief executive officers. Point is it's illegal, so keep it under wraps, take your l'il smoke and hope that you are not caught by the police and charged.
What hypocrisy, I repeat. I have written before, and I repeat today, more than 50 per cent of those who bloomed with the "flower power" generation of the 1960s and '70s took a "toke". And I am neither ashamed nor am I afraid to say that I am included in that 50 per cent-a number that is probably quite an under-estimation, coming to think of it. In those heady days of revolution and change, it was not unusual for "joints" to make the rounds during meetings. And out of that period came many of the bright people who today sit in key positions at the highest levels in government, business and state boards. They can be found, too, among professionals in just about every field.
Now, many of these people may have stopped smoking marijuana, writing the experience off to the impetuousness of youth, or just plain experimenting. Those who have stopped smoking the herb, and who have also stopped smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, must be commended. Because even though I have not touched on the potential benefits of marijuana (whether it's smoked, baked or boiled!), I believe in holistic living which entails a combination of proper eating and drinking habits, eschewing smoking and drinking alcohol, as well as adding a good exercise regime.
But almost everyone who has smoked marijuana will tell you that except for a "heady high" that may put you in a relaxing mood, or cause you to enjoy music or sex somewhat more than when one is in a normal state of mind, its ill-effects are almost non-existent. It is not a "gateway" drug, as so many supposed "ganja experts" tell us. I know, because having used it, I never did find myself addicted to it, nor was I inclined to try "harder" drugs like cocaine or LSD (both of which were available during my youth). And never once, under the influence of marijuana, was I driven towards violence, to reacting in an irrational manner to others. If anything, marijuana tends to put one in the pacifist mode, not an aggressive state of mind.
Let me switch to alcohol. I have always maintained that if alcohol tasted good, I might have turned out to be an alcoholic. Fortunately, the damn thing tastes like poison, whether it's cheap "kakapool" rum or expensive brandy, or worst of all beer. But no one has a problem with people who drink, although I need to add moderately to that. In fact, medical research has shown that a glass of wine a day may be good for one's health. On the other hand, a drunkard-and some people need only two or three drinks to get them there-is one of the most obnoxious people you could meet. He starts by boasting and bragging, and before long he's cursing and looking for fight.
On the roads of countries worldwide, alcohol is the single biggest factor behind vehicular accidents. Millions of people have lost their lives because of drunk driving. Domestic violence is often rooted in the abuse of alcohol by one or both parties involved. As for diseases that are caused by alcohol, there are too many to count them: diabetes, hypertension, the deterioration of the liver and other vital organs, and many more. The cost to the health service of alcohol related diseases is probably bigger than the cost of treating those who suffer from the ill-effects of smoking cigarettes.
If one tries to quantify the damage caused by the use of marijuana, it would without doubt be the least among all mind-altering substances. This is not to remotely suggest that we go out there and campaign for young people to smoke ganja the way cigarette companies woo the same target market, or the way alcohol manufacturers do. In fact, if anything, we should be spending millions of dollars steering our young and impressionable minds away from all mind-altering substances and towards academia, sports and general healthy lifestyles.
But it hurts to see young people whose only "crime" is possession of one or two "joints", or who are caught smoking "grass", end up as full-fledged criminals only because the law says that what they do is "criminal". These youngsters have not robbed or raped or stolen or chopped or killed anybody. The simple possession of that one "joint" means that person's character is scarred for life, heavily penalized by magistrates and judges, some of whom may well be heavy into alcohol and domestic violence and other anti-social behaviour. Indeed, many policemen who make "easy arrests" of marijuana smokers are themselves alcoholics and abusers of other substances.
In other words, the laws governing the possession and use of marijuana are not just an ass, but a pack of asses. But if the laws are bad, the hypocrites are worse. How often have you seen staggering-drunkards point their shaky fingers towards a bunch of youths and say: "Look at dem blasted marijuana smokers!" I, therefore, go further than Professor Ramchand. Not long ago, the law allowed for the sale of marijuana, a practice that was introduced here by Indian indentured immigrants. It was changed when young people started using the herb back in the 1960s.
I say we need to completely revise these laws, not just move to decriminalise use of the herb. That way we could save the state a whopping amount of money that we have wasted in prosecuting mainly young people, jailing them, destroying their lives for what is a crime only by the warped standards of a modern world that drowns itself in alcohol, buries itself in a mass of toxic tobacco smoke, profits by trading in deadly substances like cocaine and heroin, but hypocritically prosecutes and persecutes marijuana users.
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Copyright © Raffique Shah
