The Great March of Policy
When will Cannabis exit the ‘bad drug’ category permanently when it comes to the legal area? In reality, while thousands already live in an inevitable future where cannabis is completely decontrolled and the ‘war on drugs’ never happened; its the ‘mainstream system’ whose acceptance about human psychology, altered states of consciousness and general healthcare, that have taken time to catch up; not to mention the still abnormal paranoia associated with altered states of consciousness in general. Its as if there is a perception of labels like ‘immorality’ or ‘purity’ that comes to the mind’s eye of the individuals abhorrent to altered states of consciousness; at the expense of common sense, cultural history, science and by association; societal well-being.
This is not to say that recreational users understood the massive medical benefits at hand or even had an acceptance or embrace of their altered consciousness states for lifestyle well-being; but rather that, in the present moment, recreational users often feel ‘vindicated’ that they’ve ‘instinctively’ well known all along’ about cannabis’ relative safety with respect to its preventive healthcare possibilities (assuming of course that dosage is controlled and quality of source medicinal compounds is processed by good standards, just like how the process of validating the efficacy of the current covid vaccine was/is being carried out)
The United States’ domination over the free market capitalist system owing to its enormous production and consumption of all kinds of goods and services; its focus on developing new technologies and of course its dominant military position (approximately 800 military bases all over the world today) has always given it an edge when it came to creating and enforcing policies that were global in scale via its control of the United Nations and the World Bank via American representatives, its ability to influence appointees and therefore, have the first say towards its interests in all major domains including drugs, finance and energy resources. Therefore, it is prudent to reason that, with China’s assertiveness still being questioned in light of its ‘bullying or authoritarian tactics and moves’ involving a competition between USA and itself in terms of controlling technologies and resources of the future – we’re seeing the rise of a multi-polar world; where countries increasingly seek to be interdependent and independent at the same time.
If the United States passes the Federal Legalization of cannabis bill in the next few months, it will be time for Cannabis to exit the ‘bad drug’ category permanently by law all over the world in one way or the other; since it was the USA that first enacted it; after which it began its era of dominance by financing the reconstruction of Europe after the second world war; after watching Europe bomb itself; after Europe had subjugated Asia anyway.
Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco
The mainstream market has ascribed the ‘big’ label to alcohol and tobacco companies who’ve reached a certain size and stature after having been available in the modern free markets (stressing the word ‘modern’ here because markets have obviously existed since the beginning of human civilization) and a part of global supply chains for decades. Alcohol and Tobacco, courtesy of their association with recreational use are compared to recreational cannabis, but we say and believe that cannabis must never ever be compared to alcohol and tobacco; because all the three things are fundamentally different in terms of their material composition, impact and overall uses; and cannabis wins hands down on benefits and overall uses even if we just take one aspect: medicine. It is one of the first domesticated crops by the first agriculturally minded humans; and ideally should be explored more in the modern free markets.
The Indian Cannabis Imperative
Worrying about the ‘threat’ of altered states of consciousness owed to the recreational use among cannabis users in India should be the least of the worries of Indian state governments. With the amount of stress our central and state governments are under due to healthcare, finance and economic issues; we wonder what is stopping multiple states from creating policies to harness the potential of the cannabis plant to cure the same issues of healthcare, finance and economics. Because, as far as the modern scientific literature (or as people call it ‘allopathy’) is concerned with respect to its uses for healthcare especially chronic diseases; the way is quite clear. Cannabis was always known in the Ayurveda, therefore even this problem is out of the way; and both doctor communities can study it. So what’re we waiting for? The hard part is to actually create world class products that can withstand both the pressures of the domestic market and the international market.
As William Bratton, author of “China’s Rise, Asia’s Decline”, former head of equity research, Asia-Pacific, at HSBC writes for Nikkei Asia
“India’s manufacturing difficulties highlight its longer-term economic challenges. It is true that the government recognizes the importance of a competitive, dynamic and innovative manufacturing base to deliver sustained economic growth and increase its relevance in international trade, especially given the precedent established by China. But despite this recognition, its current industrial capabilities are dominated by lower-order, domestically orientated and internationally uncompetitive companies, which have to be protected by some of the world’s highest trade tariffs. This explains its reluctance to enter free trade agreements, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, as well as its near irrelevance in most global product markets. It exports fewer manufactured goods, in value terms, than Vietnam, Spain and even Belgium, and the product markets in which it is an important supplier are predominantly agricultural or commodity-related.”
We believe that with the right policies at the state government level; Indian companies can use cannabis to be relevant to every international market where suitable; since the supply isn’t an issue; just the will and the quality standards.
Marijuana Maharaj 