This opinion is in response to Shashi Tharoor’s article ‘High time India, the land of bhang, legalises marijuana‘ published by the ThePrint.
Pot as an industry is dead on arrival and Tharoor’s argument that legalised pot “reduces crime” is flimsy at best
The promised new era is almost here. We are at the cusp of a technological revolution that will enable robots to perform many of the routine tasks that today employ human beings. Most jobs in transportation will be lost to autonomous vehicles, most jobs in factories and farming will be outsourced to untiring and self-replicating robots, and most jobs in the service industries will be taken over by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning systems. The good news is that this will unleash productivity on a scale as yet unfathomable, which means that overall wealth will increase immensely. Assuming that society figures out how to ensure that income inequality does not go completely haywire, this wealth can be used to benefit all humans, most likely through a Universal Basic Income that will make sure that all of us benefit from the post-scarcity world that we are about to witness.
But there is a catch. What do we do with all these humans who have no jobs? How do we keep them entertained through a normal workday? Are Netflix and video games enough to occupy a whole lifetime without a need for purpose? There are optimistic and pessimistic views from futurists regarding how this society of the near future will evolve, but one trend stands out that needs to be addressed head on. The ongoing push for the legalisation of marijuana.
Shashi Tharoor, stalwart of the left-lib intellectuals and a Congress party lawmaker, makes the intellectual case for legalising marijuana in this article.
While I truly applaud him for taking on a very controversial subject and taking an unpopular stand, I will posit that his arguments are, to put it mildly, unpersuasive. He claims that he has “never tried a recreational drug in his life”, but would nonetheless like to legalise pot for the vast benefits to society including, “put a dent in corruption and crime, and provide the country an economic boost”. Let us examine the holes in his arguments.
Tharoor argues that “it’s high time for India to embrace the health, business, and broader societal benefits that legally regulating cannabis can bring”. But the first thing we need to understand about marijuana industry is that it is not a semiconductor or car manufacturing that benefits from continuous improvement, and creates long term jobs as the products get better and cheaper and more widespread.
Marijuana is merely an agricultural commodity, like corn, which if planted in sufficient acreage, will cause a massive glut within a year or two that will invariably cause a total collapse in prices. This is because unlike corn (which has uses from food to plastics to ethanol), people do not consume much marijuana. Even if the entire planet of 7 billion smoked a joint (of .4 grams) daily, you only need about 10 lakh tonnes a year of marijuana, which could be produced by the equivalent of planting about a million hectares, at a yield of around 1,000 kilogram per hectare. The US State of Oregon alone, has 7 milllion hectares of total farmland available, and it wouldn’t take much to put 15 per cent of it to use in growing marijuana for the whole world. In fact, Oregon is already facing a massive glut of the crop only a couple of years after its legalisation, as can be seen in this article.
Pot as an industry is dead on arrival, because you can grow a person’s lifetime worth of it for cheaper than a sack of potatoes. The only innovation possible in this drug business is higher yield and a more potent crop, which would cause even more damage to the population at large. Is this what we want?
As for creating new jobs, we have enough paan dabbas across the length and breadth of India to distribute this stuff. Besides, the marijuana equivalent of a beedi will be as good if not better than a cigarette equivalent, so there is no scope for a premium product in this industry, no matter what the packaging tells you. In fact, on a recent trip to California, I saw that the wholesale cost of an electronic cigarette cannister containing 300 hits of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana), was already less than $4, or the equivalent of Rs 1 a hit. This price could easily fall by 90 per cent with increased scale of production.
Tharoor’s argument that legalised pot “reduces crime” is flimsy at best. A perfectly acceptable solution is to decriminalise possession of small quantities, while going after the dealers and growers. This achieves the same reduction in crime, while keeping the overall consumption of the drug low, which is an equally important societal consideration, unless you believe that a drug-addled population is a good thing. A legal grey area is not a bad idea, something that we already employ informally in many aspects of civil society (religious use of marijuana is one such example) . This needs to be no different.
Unlike Tharoor, I did try pot in the past when I visited jurisdictions where it is legal, and I can report, from meeting many long-term habitual users, that it has highly damaging effects if you do it daily. The main downside to pot is that it reduces motivation, and hence productivity. There are numerous other side effects, including lung damage from the smoke, although there is a case for a regulated medicinal use of it in people with certain ailments like glaucoma and some forms of chronic pain.
Many states in the USA have already legalised marijuana, and it will suit us to wait a generation to see the effect it has on those societies before we do the same. What is the rush to hook a whole new generation on drugs, which is exactly what would happen if the marketing might of big business is unleashed on this drug?
The lessons of China in the 19th and early 20th century (see here), which underwent a humiliating population-scale addiction to opium by force at the hands of the European colonial powers, should also be studied properly to see what happens to societies when significant portions of the population are addicted to mind-numbing depressant drugs. Opium is no doubt a lot stronger than marijuana, but the potency of some of the pot I have seen in California recently is truly scary, and approaches opium in its ability to send its users into day-long oblivion. Today, you can walk around the streets of San Francisco or any town in California, as I did two weeks ago, and smell marijuana everywhere. I have never seen this level of low energy in the population. Everyone seems to be “high” on the stuff, rather one should properly call it “low” on the stuff since it is a depressant, and it’s just been a couple of years since legalisation. I would say, wait and see for a few years where this is heading, before we jump in headfirst into this morass.
Perhaps, the best argument for legalisation is that it decreases violent crime, and there is some evidence that this is indeed the case. It is also possible that it would decrease radicalisation of youth into violent ideologies, particularly religious or separatist ideologies. After all, who wouldn’t mind dropping a few bales of marijuana on an ISIS stronghold, and watching from afar as the ghastly place relaxes into a cloudy haze, the wild-eyed gunslingers chilling down into well-stoned peaceniks and swaying around the fire, as their guns fall silent forever. No wonder some extreme religious leaders are scared of this product, for it may dull the extremes of faith itself. I have never seen a pothead throw a single stone in anger or otherwise, they would just be too stoned to bother with real stones. But could Shashi Tharoor ever really dare propose marijuana as a covert solution to religious radicalisation?
I believe it is no coincidence that just as we are entering global era of mass unemployment, the clamour is growing worldwide to legalise pot. After all, pot smokers are not known to be violent agitators, so perhaps this is the ultimate dystopia that Tharoor and his nanny-state-liberal friends want: That marijuana becomes the new opiate of the pliant masses, who sit at home on a basic income and while away their lives getting high and watching TV, while their benevolent rulers get on with their own privileged pursuits.
This article was originally published in Swarajya
Ravi Mantha is an organic farmer, health guru and specialises in treating chronic pain and illnesses
Definitely the most stupid and ignorant article I have ever come across. Let’s do some fact checks –
Economically – US alone generated a revenue of $ 52 Billion i.e. (Approx – 38,08,80,24,00,000.00 Indian Rupees) this year from the cannabis industry and is showing an increasing trend of 30% by every year and the industry employs at least 250,000 people showing a 57% increase in jobs in this industry for 2018-2019 alone.
Secondly , talking about medicinal values its not just for “Glaucoma” and is certainly not a depressant(Alcohol is a depressant) , you shouldn’t alter the facts to serve your agenda. To name a few diseases in which cannabis serves as a magic wand – Epileptic Seizures, Depression , stress and anxiety , Alzheimer’s disease , helps with PTSD symptoms ,helps provide relief to individuals with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and various others. But the most significant and recent achievement has been in the treatment of Cancer and its symptoms.
Other than this , the industrial uses of Hemp is just simply massive, theres everything from Clothes to brick. I recommend to research about that too.
So next time when you write an article this long , you are expected to do at least a decent amount of research if not extensive and if you don’t want to address the actual facts on this subject at-least don’t spread misinformation.
Talking abut Cannabis in India and its usage , its already being heavily consumed in India , Delhi and Mumbai are among st the top ten weed consuming cities all across the globe. (approximately around 100 tonnes annually), hence its not something new to India, in fact India is the only country which has had an integral cultural aspect of cannabis for thousands of years.
But the most important thing which people are not realizing is that , its not just about the ADVANTAGES of legalizing cannabis but to confront the MAJOR DISADVANTAGES we are facing due to the illegalization. The black market for cannabis is currently flourishing which is resulting in tremendous movement of power and money in the hands of all sorts of “wrong people”. A huge chunk of this black market is being run by Naxalites, Underworld Cartels and local gangsters. And this massive illegal movement of cannabis opens the routes for smuggling far more deadly drugs and other illegal items such as guns, explosives etc into and through out the country from almost all the borders of the country (Specially North- Eastern). Infact, selling illegal cannabis has been the primary source of income for the Naxalites residing in north- eastern India , which then utilize the money to procure illegal weapons and resources.
So , I can just go on pointing out the various reasons why we should legalize cannabis. And now that countries like America and Canada has made it legal we know we too definitely will at some point, if not now maybe 5,10 -15 years later . But most importantly I want to point out one other infamous reason, so as to why we should legalize cannabis as soon as possible in India. Every year around 50000 arrests are made in India for either possession or selling of cannabis. A huge amount of these arrests are of young people and not all of them are so called “drug dealers”. A significant amount of these include various normal (Potential) college going students or working professionals whose lives just simply gets destroyed in a snap of second. They are expelled from the institutions and loose their jobs and get tagged as “drug dealers” for whole life. Let’s take a real case study-
Similar situation arose in America, during the war on drugs and until recently before the legalization thousands of people were arrested and a lot people even lost their lives before this legalization. However, for America so called “war on drugs” became a subject of racism as most of these people were African – American who were loosing lives. And the irony today is that all the top Cannabis Companies in America are currently being run by white people who are just getting richer by the day. So now people have started asking questions , How is it fair to those who literally got killed or whose lives were destroyed for something on which now you are cooking your breads on?
So instead of waiting and letting tide and time take control of the things , I believe we (Government) should take a conscious step towards this cause before more and more lives are destroyed every year and bring out a beautiful framework to legalize and regulate cannabis in a way which benefits/suits our country the most. Now we can even refer to and learn from the policies that government of Canada, America , etc have laid out and and use that information to come up with a unique framework for a unique country like ours. And show them how its done.
Regarding the negative effects of the drug, it doesn’t damage the lungs. more so, its said to increase the lung capacity. because weed has never beeen a harmful drug. sure, it leads to lack of motivation, maybe. but one of the strongest arguments of tharoor for supporting legalization was making the people fully aware of the drug so that people can make a more informed decision.
Came across this post in 2019, June. The marijuana industry which you pointed out is a failure just as it started is a 3 trillion dollar busines in which half of the world has already put their legs in. They are reinventing what was already ours. Could have done India some good. Sad.
I being a smoker think that though its been illegal at present 80% of population is a weed smoker,and 90-95%are addict to either smoke or alcohol….and what i say is if we dont do there are a lot person to do the same but the thing is it will be done somehow…..as there is a saying what a person wants he will get it by hook o crook…..i say this because i do it…..i am not opposing you….its just my view
I’d say the writer was stoned when he wrote this but it would be an understatement. One would have to be dropped on his head several times at birth to even come close to this level of stupid.
Honestly, your own comment applies to you more than anybody else. No wonder you couldn’t write one sentence of constructive criticism.
This is the stupidest article on the internet today
One of the most biased and stupid articles I’ve ever read. Hahahahaha
Interesting! I’ve never heard an unbiased opinion from any stoner. Yes, I’ve definitely come across stubborn stoners who thought limited amount of marijuana won’t affect them and later had to go through therapies and treatment and loads of regret. So much for “medicinal” use of marijuana.
A-hemp.
Could you please share the references utilized for the ‘The main downside to pot is that it reduces motivation, and hence productivity’ part?
Elitist leaders like Shashi Tharoor should keep quiet on issues of non-priority such as pot legalization. That’s for US and wealthy European countries to worry about. In India, where 50% of the population is illiterate, and 35% more are just functionally literate, any talk about stuff like pot and alcoholo legalization has long-term political consequences. Already BJP IT cell trolls are on Shashi Tharoor’s case.