THE ZAMBIAN RULING TO LEGALISE MARIJUANA FOR INDUSTRIAL AND MEDICINAL USE: THE BROADER PICTURE

By Namakando Nalikando-Sinyama

This long overdue decision has been received by many Revolutionary minds as one that ought to have been made a long time ago. It is therefore, for this very reason that, some of us are not really overly frenzied about it because we have always known an Immutable Universal Law that,"You can not Fight Nature and expect to Win." What has just happened here now,ha actually been happening in many other progressive countries for some time now and comes as no surprise at  all  but is a natural progression of events and one that delayed Humanity from benefitting from God's bountiful supply of Natural Plants with multiple Human uses. Without having to say too much on the subject, especially seeing that enough has been said already, it is almost making my head ache from reading it all. I will not stoop so low as to even address or drag in the usually narrow and  naive Blinded Religious view that it is unchristian. I have had just about enough of chaps imposing their social mores on the Globe on all matters, it is even making me nauseous, Pheew!!! 

If they want to protest it ,they might as well direct their protestations at God who makes it(The Plant) grow so lushly and makes it available to one and all and lends itself for use in various applications.

We all seem to understand and appreciate the Industrial Applications  of Weed or Marijuana or the byproducts of any of its cultivars but it is the medicinal use that may need some bit of light shed on it. I have however, noticed that  there is also a great deal of confusion and misinformation as to what has really been Legalised in Zambia. Simply put ,it is Marijuana Growing for Industrial and Medicinal Use by people or Companies who have a Permit or License which has rather shockingly, been pegged at a mind numbing Quarter of a Million US Dollars($USD250,000.00)! Some chaps,for some strange reason want to muddy the waters and have dragged in issues of Hemp which has not been mentioned specifically in this Legalisation  ruling Declaration since it is only but one of the many products or uses that exists or is extracted from this multipurpose Plant. While appreciating the views of those that have always hated the plant for usually unsound reasons, like their abhorrence of the RASTA Community due to their perceived  nonconformist or 'Rebellious' Nature against Authority but that we, in the know, simply Call Consciousness and their  supposedly unkempt appearance, this Legalisation move has, in a way, actually totally vindicated many such people  that have always seen this Plant as having some immense Social Economic  potential. The International convention on narcotics stipulates that a country growing marijuana should only export 25% of its total production. So, what happens to the 75%? Do we have capacity as a country to consume this 75%?

Globally, the RASTA Farian Movement has been a foremost proponent for this Policy move hence do not be surprised if they burn the incense to commemorate this as a Spiritual Victory for HIM to have finally opened their Third Eyes to have the good sense and courage to finally do the right thing. The ever Wise RASTAs, who are the remaining vestiges of Global Wisdom and Custodians or Protectors of Mother Earth that have long since used it and campaigned for its eventual Universal legalisation in Song and Dance  before the so-called conventional societies wizened up or awoke. In Zambia, we saw the emergence of The Green Party, a Political Party formed under the very genuinely  able Leadership of the ever analytical Revolutionary, my Elder Brother Mr. Peter Chazya Sinkamba to specifically champion issues of Environmental Protection with Green Gold( Marijuana) as one of the/main products it seriously feels needed to be given due attention because of its potential to economically contribute to the fiscus.

MEDICINAL USE

This ,for me, is wherein lies the Catch 22 scenario of sorts. The enforcement of this ruling, I find to be replete with a Multiplicity of Challenges which I will attempt to break down. From the outset, you will no doubt agree that, there are a number of questions that now beg to be critically addressed without prejudice.
Are they now going to be Customising Illnesses for this Plant or Drug to Cure? Human beings suffer from different Health conditions and no one has the Right to dictate which Drug to use to remedy them. Unlike your regular Conventional Medicines,where you depend on a medical Doctor to prescribe specific  cocktails of Drugs, Marijuana is technically a Plant or  Herb which possesses an inherent chemical substance THC( Tetra HydroCannabinol) with Psychotropic Properties and has medically been proven to offer relief for a number of conditions. This Plant has been around for Centuries and if someone tells you that ,from their own experience,the health Complication or condition they feel or have been battling for years  requires that they ingest Marijuana either by eating the leaves or Smoking it and they always feel better when they do this ,who is to deny it to them? Would the Doctor's Hippocratic Oath allow such people to be denied access to this Plant ? If someone was to be found peacefully sprawled away on the lawn  in sheer abandon in a Public Park puffing away on a mega busting spliff because they have been battling this excruciatingly painful itch under their left ingrowing Toe nail and they told you that a few long puffs of freshly ground dried leaves of this Naturally growing  Plant without any artificial chemical additives,rolled up in a rizzla soothes their Pain without taking your regular pain killers ,would you arrest them in light of this Ruling? What if  they told you they have been surviving on it or doing this for years, would you arrest them for 10 to 15 years and take away their medicine  and impose an alternative Hospital remedy on them which they may not even afford?

The would be patient may have always known this fact and thus does not require any Prescription from anyone to tell them what to take  or the  quantity of it to ingest. I believe, this use technically qualifies as medicinal , albeit, self medication in pretty much the same way people easily get Panadol, an analgesic for their pounding headaches,which they make readily available  in their Homes. It defeats logic and common sense to go to a clinic when you know that Weed will have the same effect as the panadol they sell. Common sense will also tell you that ,in order to have such quick remedies readily available, people might consider growing a plant or two in their backyard. Will this kind of use,since it is medicinal as well and thus now Legal, equally require a $250,000.00 License?Would it be in order to arrest them for 10 Years simply because they have been found in possession of a quantity more than the set threshold of what is prescribed as being  for personal use  and consequently  deemed Trafficking? With this Growing License, will the Drug and Psychotropic Substances Trafficking Act or Clause now be repealed or modified to include or exclude those growing it under License?

It shall not make sense for the medical fraternity to suddenly become authoritative and impose a List of Illnesses or conditions for which they alone can prescribe a Monitored and controlled dose or Medication with Sensimilla. Who feels it, knows it and if people do not want to incur huge medical Bills for some conditions, will they be Arrested for wanting to cure themselves cost effectively or cheaply with this now Legal Plant when grown for medicinal use? Who will be dictating what is Medicinal and what is Recreational? While taking it for medicinal purposes, are they somehow, going to magically inhibit it from having its accompanying Psychotropic side effects or the patient will have the good fortune of ,' Having the cake and eating it by enjoying both the plant's Curative and Recreational  High inducing properties? How sure are they that people will not now be feigning illness to have a spliff of their long known 'Cure' for their long known 'malady'?This is how Herbs like Marijuana and others have helped some people while others take them for the High it induces as it calms them down and to a large extent helps them cope with Life's anxieties and the never ending pressures,does this not Qualify as medicinal? Who is to say?

Those of us who have had the good fortune of growing up in the village know that whenever we got sick,Our very Dear Grandmothers simply got hold of their hoes and headed into the nearby Bushes to either dig some Roots or harvest some leaves to come and Pound for us to be steamed in or ingest and, Lo and  behold we got better. This is how The Great Spirit through its infinite wisdom and divine providence kept us alive to this day. Now you should make his Natural Herbs he so lovingly made available for Our use illegal because you want to promote the Profit motive by the capitalistic money hogs. We did not have to enrich Big Pharmaceutical Companies by buying their Drugs which eventually become poisons to Our bodies with their continued overuse. For the record,this is one of the very reasons the Legalisation of Marijuana has been fought against for so many years because of the relief it offers for so many human health conditions that require their expensive Drugs. It has been deemed as an existential threat to their Business Profits and very continued operational existence. The other headache they have is how they cannot patent it since God somehow makes it grow so Naturally without the need for their expensive inorganic Fertilizers or Insecticides and it is accessible to all even the very poor communities. They do not see how they will make their Billions from it as it is not likely to be made a prescription 'plant' anytime soon. The wealthy Corporations involved in the manufacture of these drug poisons are non too pleased with the  current wave of Global Consciousness  and Awakening towards its blanket Legalisation.

 The Legal fraternity may need  to equally  brace itself to be inundated with technical legal precedences after this Ruling from handling cases of people who will be arrested for using Marijuana for medicinal purposes. To expect or demand a $250,000.00 Growing License for a Home remedy of an Innocent shrub growing in your backyard is ludicrous and illogical.

All in all, I believe this is the picture that the policy makers needed to have exhaustively brainstormed on and made abundantly clear to the general public. They should have had the interests of The Poor Majority in mind when they Legalised this Plant and included them in scheme of things like the Value Chain to ensure their active participation in the economic space and not to suddenly turn around by still continuing to issue threats of arbitrary arrests from the use and possession of what you have already Legalised. A hallmark of progressive societies lies in their ability to evolve and embrace new ways of looking at issues and not just copying and  pasting things or blindly complying with your Donors who were funding your Drug Enforcement campaigns but have themselves since turned around to think more progressively to Legalise that which you still persecute your own  people for using while they make quantum leaps in Research and Development of medicines and Industrial by products or materials from this plant.