I would like to add my two-cents-worth to the current controversial debate, which in my opinion is nothing but a storm in a teacup, surrounding the legalisation of cannabis (or as we called it in my young days zol or boom).
Brought up under the yoke of Afrikaner Nationalism and Calvinistic guilt, zol smokers were demonised and banished to the fringes of the establishment. The establishments’ lynch mob and moral police would have liked nothing better than to publicly flog these reprobates that threatened the very fabric of society. All because of smoking the Evil Forbidden Plant!
In my 78 years on this little planet hurling through space (keep this in mind when you weigh up the moral implications of this ‘offence’ and where it fits into the bigger picture) I have never been able to understand why all the animosity towards a herb and its users. I have seen one world war, lived through the Cold War and its ever-present threat of dropping the atom bomb, I have seen the coming and goings of serial killers and other sadistic paedophile criminals, how AIDS killed millions and how, not only on the world stage, but right here at home, a bunch of the most crooked criminals blatantly and in plain sight sold our country down the river.
My pharmacist, and believe me at my age I visit her often, recently told me of the scourge of opiate addiction across the world. In South Africa especially, the statistics regarding codeine addiction are startling. But is that in the news? No, because you can legally step into a pharmacy and buy a drug, that is genetically one molecule removed from heroin, over the counter from a nice man in a white coat and no cop is going to jump up from behind the counter and arrest you. But God forbid that you smoke a plant so harmless that in the history of the world no one has ever died from an overdose of it and that is not addictive at all.
I believe that the true enemy, the real gateway drug, is alcohol. Freely available to anyone over 18 and just as accessible to the industrious youth below this age. In my lifetime, I have seen how it destroys families, stealing moms and dads from their children, how it perpetuates violence and how it damages the economy.
But oh no, God forbid that we smoke a harmless plant.
To the open minded youth I say: for once forget the ignorance of the previous generations, make informed decisions and use the plant as you see fit, whether for recreational or medicinal purposes.
Meanwhile, this old toppie is going to at least take a drag or two before I am off to the Pearly Gates.
