The Netherlands has long been known as a liberal society where tolerance is central to its culture. Amsterdam's famous 'coffee shops' where legally-licenced cannabis is freely sold is just one manifestation of this progressive nation. But if its new right wing government gets its way, access to the drug may be severely restricted if not stopped all together.
Meanwhile, Californians will go to the polls at the beginning of November to vote on whether to legalise the sale of pot in their state. And if opinion research is to believed, it looks like the majority support this proposal.
This could result in a bizarre reversal whereby the largest state in the USA, a nation that has a long history of intolerance toward to drugs, could be about to allow cannabis to be sold to anyone over the age of 21, while Holland, where weed has been legal for over 30 years may be banned.
Following this debate from Chicago is particularly significant because this is the city famed by Al Capone, the gangster who made millions of dollars by selling illegal, so-called bootleg alcohol. He profited from the introduction of a Federal law which banned its sale, transportation and manufacture. But it was thanks to the underworld that anyone could buy the stuff if they were prepared to flout the law. This ridiculous and almost-impossible-to-enforce measure wasn’t repealed until 1933, during which time society was horribly undermined by terrible violence, corruption and lethally-manufactured alcohol.
Prohibition of drugs clearly doesn’t work either. It’s a gift to the criminal world. Driving drugs underground has not succeeded in making them inaccessible. On the contrary, there is considerable evidence that young people can buy cannabis far more easily that alcohol, if they are underage. Legalising the sale of alcohol in America meant that it could be controlled. The sale of drugs in out of control wherever it’s banned.
While I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to encourage people to smoke pot, I have long supported proposals to make it legally available. The dangers created by it being controlled by the criminal world far outweigh any possible health risks associated with the drug.
By the time you are old enough to make choices for yourself, I predict that cannabis will be openly on sale in shops in most of the world. I have no doubt that you will experiment with the stuff. That’s entirely normal. But I would urge you to do so in moderation, like with so many things in life, including alcohol.
Your grandfather makes no secret of the fact that he enjoys a joint or two. I’ve been smoking cannabis of many years, and I enjoy it. I treat it in the same way as alcohol. There is a right and wrong time and place for consuming it. We need to adopt an honest approach to cannabis. And always seek the truth from those older and supposedly wiser than you, my dear Yael.
But for now, if your grandfather begins making more visits to California, you’ll know why.
Grandpa Jonathan
Chicago, Illinois (where you can go to jail for a year if found in possession of two gramms of pot)
