‘Green gold’ in them thar hills

POTHEADS must be crying over their wrinkled Rizlas now that police have gleefully destroyed nine plantations of their cherished ‘weed’ in the St Faith’s area.

This will surely be a blow to local ‘rookers’, one might hope.

Really?

Not for long as a new stash can be imported from virtually anywhere.

Supply and demand might push up prices for a while, but let’s not kid ourselves: If you want it, you can still get it.

There’s no doubt that the current ‘scorched earth’ strategy is costly, time consuming, possibly dangerous and will be never ending. Police have been burning dagga plantations, virtually since time immemorial.

Hello! It’s a weed and it grows back quickly. In fact, like the ‘fynbos’ in the Cape, the roots are rejuvenated after fire.

Therefore, one could argue that these search and destroy missions are really quite futile.

So why not legalise cannabis?

That’s exactly what a Howick man, John Lawrence Strydom (44), is currently trying to do in the Constitutional Court.

He wants to ‘destigmatise the word dagga and give the plant its original name (cannabis) and a rightful place in society for the benefit of all the country’s citizens’.

This move is being taken so seriously by some that a national political party has even been regitsered: Iqela Lentsango (The Dagga Pary of South Africa).

At first, this suggestion will be met with shock and horror by many, especially South Coasters who can’t even get their heads around others wanting to bare their bodies at Impenjati.

But take the emotion out of the picture and think again… more logically.

Like prostitution, it’s a fight we can never win so chasing it underground merely exacerbates the problem.

On the other hand, if we make it legal and control it properly as an industry, the benefits are immense.

The medical properties are beyond question, especially after the late IFP MP Mario Ambrosini’s emotional plea to Parliament shortly before he died of lung cancer. His experiences were proof that cannabis oil helped easy his suffering and even prolonged his life.

From an economic point of view, them thar hills could be covered in green gold and could just be a way to stimulate the economy in the poorest-of-the-poor rural areas.

Will there be a market? Well, of course. There always has been and there always will be. Heck, there are several cities and even countries around the world which have already taken this bold step.

Will this encourage more people to use hard drugs eventually? This is also debatable as one can ask the same question of alcohol. Some might suggest that alcohol is the lesser evil, but how many people are killed on our roads by drunken drivers? How many people actually die from alcohol abuse full stop?

Smoking dagga must surely be closer to smoking cigarettes, but with more of a kick than just nicotine.

Ban school children from smoking and they will merely do it around the corner.

Surely the better strategy is to give them the choice and teach them about the pros and cons.

This educational approach, coupled with our country’s strict laws about where you can and cannot smoke, have already inspired more an more people to dump their fags in the dustbin.

It’s not ‘cool’ to smoke any longer. Maybe if one legalised dagga it would be less ‘cool’ to do that as well.