cannabisnews.com: Useless Ganja Laws 





Useless Ganja Laws 
Posted by CN Staff on December 22, 2003 at 18:24:16 PT
By Dawn Ritch
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
The first things to realise about anti-ganja laws is that they are both hypocritical and useless.Ruthless tyranny upon the poor man and his spliff. Ridiculous bonfires of public wealth in billions of dollars whenever the bales and fields of marijuana are burnt to the ground. The 'Big Fish' is never arrested, only the little minnows. 
In the midst of official waste of time and resources, there exist at least two ganja markets which operate openly in the back alleys of downtown Kingston markets. Of all vendors under the sun, they know best how to pack up and leave in a rush.There is no power on earth that can prevent men wanting to alter their consciousness. The Government and the courts have not been invented that can stamp out drugs, regardless of how totalitarian they become. The trick to a regulated trade is that you cannot have the industry owing your Customs. NATURALLY OCCURRING Marijuana is a naturally occurring plant like tobacco, but nowhere as lethal. Alcohol was invented from honey and grape. The Egyptians got drunk while building the pyramids, and the Aztecs smoked while building theirs. So it hardly seems worthwhile to accuse them of being useless. Anything else but useless.The problem is that it is known that some individuals become addicted to alcohol and marijuana, while most people do not. This is what the science of addiction now calls "the addictive personality". Some get addicted to gambling and can ruin their families. And although some people can get addicted to sex, I've never heard them ruining their family. And old age usually brings blessed release from that particular addiction.The only kind of official drug policy to have therefore, is an enlightened one. To supply the resources for the treatment of addicts, including their drugs, and to protect and regulate the industry that arises from any naturally occurring drug within your national borders. Whether it's beer, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine or opium.The Americans are committed to an unwinnable war against cocaine production in at least three South American countries. There the murder of judges, and the kidnapping of politicians, journalists and wealthy citizens have therefore become endemic.Cocaine is immensely more profitable than ganja. Jamaica became an off-shore refuelling stop for cocaine runners from South America to North. But several years ago the Colombians came ashore, because the Jamaicans were robbing them at sea.Perhaps it is their stronger Amerindian heritage which makes the Colombians intolerant of indiscipline and accepting of sudden death and disappearance. But I much prefer the greater peace and harmony that prevailed in our country before they came ashore.Today the local ganja trade has all but disappeared, and in its place is a violent cocaine trade where ganja is sold on the side. Ganja is bulky but cocaine is not. Who wouldn't rather fill a trailer with cocaine, especially when a Colombian gun is pointed at your head?Jamaica has none of the plant material for cocaine, and the best plant material in the world for marijuana. The only product on par with Jamaican ganja is the Thai Stick from Thailand. It's a great pity therefore that so many of their people have become addicted to a ridiculously-cheap synthetic drug manufactured in neighbouring Cambodia. It is widely held that Thailand is the sex tourism destination of the world. Its second city is at the fulcrum of the oldest trade route in the world, and at the ancient heart of the opium trade. Today they still trade in opium and rubies.Our marijuana plants came from India, along with the indentured servants. But like everything else transplanted and doing well in our soil, Jamaican ganja ranks supreme in the world and is so duly acknowledged by the experts. MADE VULNERABLE It was a policy error therefore, for successive Jamaican governments to allow Colombians to overrun the local ganja trade. By weakening it at all, it was made vulnerable to them, and today everybody has to speak Spanish. We have no defence against either the culture or the money. In effect we have ceded our streets to a foreign power, whose idea of foreign aid is football gear, component sets and Escalades. And from this immense trade of money and drugs, the public coffers collects not one red cent. Far from it, the Government spends huge sums on so-called efforts to interdict the culprits, and has not even credit left over to pay for schools, fire engines, and proper sewage.Jamaica should require that Colombians look after their cocaine themselves, and that we will look after our own ganja. We must run them out and make them redundant.Not only should possession be decriminalised, but as People's National Party activist and member of the National Alliance for Legalisation of Ganja Paul Burke told Parliament's Joint Select Committee, ganja vendors should be licensed to possess a maximum of 50 pounds of the plant at any one time, and farmers licensed to grow the plant.Mr. Burke also said that a Ganja Industry Board should be established that would regulate and plan the development of the ganja industry. The former is most certainly needed, but the latter would be the kiss of death.The local ganja industry doesn't need to be promoted by JAMPRO, because we need absolutely no foreign investment. Furthermore the whole world already knows that the best marijuana is grown here. Nor has Jamaican ganja ever needed the services of extension officers from the Ministry of Agriculture, nor any technician in the Scientific Research Council.The Blue Mountain Coffee Authorities, after long decades, have finally acknowledged that there is something extra special called estate coffee and at last consented to issue a licence for same. Ganja farmers are equally capable of producing estate marijuana, and should register their trademarks. Ganja could then be exported to those countries that have legalised it like the Netherlands, and sold in popular outlets.Newshawk: CorvallisEric Source: Jamaica Gleaner, The (Jamaica)Author: Dawn Ritch Published: Sunday, December 21, 2003 Copyright: 2003 The Gleaner Company LimitedContact: feedback jamaica-gleaner.comWebsite: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/Related Articles:A Rational Decision on Marijuana, Please http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17959.shtmlNo To Ganja - Jamaica Gleanerhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17954.shtmlDecriminalisation of Ganja Could Hurt Jamaicahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17953.shtmlJamaica: Go Easy on Ganja Users, Says Report http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17919.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Post Comment