A Dutch ban on pot sales? Say it isn't so

By Sharan Saikumar If you happen to be in holiday planning mode for the upcoming summer break then Amsterdam should figure on your agenda if it hasn’t already. By the time May rolls around next year, the singular experience of purchasing a side order of hashish brownies with your morning cup of coffee will be history. A test roll out of the ban is planned for this May itself in some cities. Having decriminalized the sale of cannabis in 1976 under a ‘tolerance policy’, the Netherlands is now considering withdrawing this unique privilege for tourists who have been thronging to their shores for this one reason, UNESCO-listed canals and world-class museums be damned. And now as the last nation on earth succumbs to pressure it leaves the civilized world with no country on the planet that will sell them legal hash on demand. Unless they are willing to pose as a practicing Hindu during the festival of Holi in certain parts of Northern India. [caption id=“attachment_239939” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] India and hashish go back a long way. The Indian Vedas sang of cannabis as one of the divine nectars, able to give man everything from good health, better vision, appetite, long life and visions of Gods, claiming even to cure leprosy.  The fixation on hash continued well into the early 2th century. The British found the use of cannabis so extensive in colonial India, that they commissioned a large scale study in the late 1890s to look into the social and moral impact of hash and  it’s possible prohibition. After years of detailed work, The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report produced six volumes of data and conclusions, primary amongst them being that suppressing the use of herbal cannabis would be totally unjustifiable since it was harmless in moderation. The report stated that alcohol was by far the bigger criminal. Alcohol has always been a well-documented killer and major contributor to aggressive behavior and acts of violence, especially domestic.  For instance, in 2003 the US Centre of Disease Control reported 20,687 alcohol related deaths. There were zero marijuana related deaths in the same period. In 1994 the New York Times released findings that gave alcohol more than double the toxicity of marijuana and triple the addiction.  It’s no wonder that 14 million Indians have been classified as having ‘ dependency issues’ with large numbers from there being people who drink more than they earn— starting a deadly spiral of alcohol and debt. Marijuana is almost saintly in comparison,  being less addictive than even caffeine and not only reducing the likelihood of violent behaviorbut increasing the feeling of well-being and positivity.  And yet, we drink. And more than ever if statistics are to be believed.  We drink because its legal. We drink because we’ve been sold on it as the king of good times and great parties. Smoking up, on the other hand, makes us illegal and immoral hippies. The universe certainly didn’t think so. Why else would smoking tobacco over long periods take us on the road to cancer and smoking hash for the same period lead to ‘ a protective effect’? The Gods clearly want us to abandon  alcohol and cigarettes and smoke a joint instead. But the alcohol lobby is having none of it.  They’re  coming out with marketing gimmicks and yum flavors, showing us the parties, loop-holing the law with packaged water ads and getting away with murder.  Why? Taxes and revenues from a billion bottles make for an extremely convincing argument. If a joint costing almost nothing to produce (since it grows wild in many parts of India) with the same power was to be legalized where would all that money come from? The question is not whether hash is an extreme moral and health threat or an innocuous and pleasant pastime . The question is about having the right to decide for ourselves.  The statistics between the two are clear but the morality isn’t.  Legalization of hash, it’s alleged, will turn us all into  raging addicts. If you believe that then maybe you’d want to take a shot at guessing the nation with the lowest rate of cannabis usage  in Europe? Yes. It is, in fact, the Netherlands. For now at least. But it takes just one word to turn indifference into intense desire - illegal.