You junkie you
Junkie as defined by the Oxford Dictionary: a person with a compulsive habit or obsessive dependency on something.
For decades the term junkie has been reserved as a derogatory term for those suffering from the habit of illegal drug consumption. You know the sort... crack-heads, stoners, etc.
Somehow this term has evaded use for the billions of others who suffer from “normal” compulsive habits. Who am I referring to? I’m referring to every person who cannot get through the day without a cup of coffee, is moody after missing their favourite TV show, won’t miss their favourite sports team’s next game if their lives depended on it, has to take regular smoke breaks at work, won’t wear anything that is not a designer brand, spends nearly every evening glued to their computer or gaming console, lives their life through Facebook, visits the gym religiously, holding their breath in anticipation of the next Twilight film and every person who has sex because it’s so damn lekker (fun). In short, I’m referring to you!
We all have our fix, that thing that we look forward to at the end of the day. Whether it’s easing into your armchair to watch some god awful soap opera or starting off your night with what will be the first of umpteen double whiskey and sodas.
You are a junkie one way or another. If you for one moment believe you are not, you are either devoid of all personality and character or completely brain dead. Even zombies are junkies... for fresh brains.
What then is it that brings us to condemn other peoples’ habits while turning a blind eye to our own habits? What is it that permits us to imprison people based on nothing more than personal opinion? What is it about dagga/marijuana/cannabis that scares people so much? What is it that breeds such blatant hypocrisy?
The numbers tell us that...
· Alcohol kills approximately 2.5 million people per year
· Tobacco kills approximately 5 million people a year
· Obesity kills approximately 2.8 million people a year
· Prescription drugs kill approximately 30,000 people a year in the US alone
· Dagga has not killed a single person as it is impossible to overdose
Our history tells us...
· Prohibition does not work
· The criminalization of dagga was founded on racist beliefs, with a complete lack of facts
· Imposing the beliefs of fundamentalists on the entire population is very dangerous and immoral
· Propaganda is one of the strongest tools to enforce a policy that is devoid of truth or facts
· Having a liberal drug policy does not lead to increased drug use
The present tells us...
· Organised crime is the biggest benefactor of the R 1,134,400,000,000.00 per year global marijuana industry
· Our police support the legalization of dagga so that they can focus on actual crimes
· Decriminalization and legalization works. Even though Amsterdam is now limiting access of dagga to Dutch citizens, dagga has not resulted in anarchy.
· According to significant world leaders, the War on Drugs is being acknowledged as a failure.
· Even some of our most respected doctors are against the War on Drugs.
The studies tell us...
· Dagga does not kill brain cells and in fact regenerates brain cells
· Dagga does not cause lung cancer
· Dagga is not a gateway drug
· Dagga is not physically addictive
· Dagga is one of the safest drugs available, even when compared to legal drugs
There seems to be this huge fear among fundamentalists and zealots within our society that legalising dagga will lead to complete anarchy. People will suddenly decide to stop working, the economy will grind to a halt, Rizzla will be the only company worth buying shares in and if stoners weren’t so damn lazy, there will be orgies on every street corner. Worst of all people will stop brushing their hair or wearing shoes.
Honestly, I understand why you might believe this. You’ve been fed this image your entire life. It’s been forced into your every orifice since your very first day on this earth. Along with this you are drip fed an image that alcohol is the key to good times, uncountable babes in bikinis and hot dudes with bronze tans. Quite odd considering that pound for pound alcohol is to dagga what AIDS is to a bad case of the hiccups. One kills by the millions while the other can be mildly annoying to those around you.
The point that seems to be lost on dagga-prohibitionists is that this is not just about a plant. It is about the principle of our freedom being limited and our rights superseded by a hypocritical law. Yeah sure, carry on saying because it’s the law (illogical as it may be) it’s right. Before you know it you will become a victim of your own fundamentalism when your very existence is defined by a complete lack of personal freedom.
I anticipate a barrage of comments that will follow this article, all along the lines off...
“I’ve seen firsthand how dagga ruins lives”
“It’s addictive”
“It causes schizophrenia”
“It makes you lazy”
“It’s a gateway drug”
“If we unleash it, there will be pandemonium as everyone will get high”
Really? Are you sure about that? I’ll bet my next joint that you are not able to show me a single empirical scientific study proving that....
- Dagga ruins even 1% of the lives that alcohol or tobacco ruins?
- Dagga is physically addictive?
- The significant increase in global dagga use over the last 40 years has resulted in any increase in global schizophrenia rates?
- Any of the studies concluding that dagga causes schizophrenia vouch for the safety of the dagga and that the quality of the dagga had not been jeopardized by harmful pesticides or herbicides?
- Dagga makes you lazy?
- Dagga leads to further drug use. Please note: Not a study that says it is one of the stops on the way to harder drugs, but that it will actually cause you to devolve into a crack-head?
- Dagga use has increased in places where it has been decriminalized or legalized?
It really does suck that you’ve been lied to all your life. Shit, I know what it’s like. I grew up on a diet of “Listening to rock music will turn you into a Satanist” and “Real men drink beer”. By all accounts I should then be a beer bellied High Priest of the Church of The Devil, instead of the boring paper pusher I actually am today.
All I can do is pity the zealous anti-dagga folk out there. Not because your opinion has been abused, left warped and tarnished in the gutter by those who should be giving you the full truth, but because your life is controlled by a fear that you are not able to overcome. An unjustifiable fear that defines the person you are today.
If you are unable to see that the war on dagga is first and foremost a war on personal freedom, you have become a tool of oppression. A propaganda fuelled soldier of hypocrisy. Your own worst enemy.
"Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself” – Jimmy Carter, former US president.
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