When the Cuban revolution happened under the leadership of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, the people united to overthrow the capitalist elites who had for centuries worked with Americans and Europeans to plunder the land of its treasures and to oppress the people, reducing them to slaves who worked to further the elite interests. When the call for revolution happened, the Communist ideology had great appeal since it promised to take away the concentrated power from the elites and spread it to the people to whom it rightly belonged. This ideal was powerful enough to unite the people into overthrowing the government and establishing a new way of life. This action brought the Cubans closer to China and Russia. Cuba became a symbol of how a small nation can defy the might of one of the most powerful nations of the world, a classic David versus Goliath confrontation in the political world. After decades, we see today in Cuba, China and Russia that the wheel has come full circle. The fallacy of the ideal of Communism as practiced in these nations is the same fallacy of capitalism. In both cases, it is finally the elites who gain power and establish themselves and oppress the majority of the people. Be it democracy, autocracy, oligarchy, monarchy or whatever you would like to call it, we see that it is finally the elites who exploit these strategies to further their own selfish interests, treating the land and the people as means to make themselves richer and more powerful. As long as one class oppresses another, equality in society can never be attained and will remain an illusive ideal.
One of the most obvious, pervasive and devastating ways in which the elites of the world have oppressed the people and plundered the earth is through the prohibition of the cannabis plant. The cannabis plant is the intoxicant, medicine, entheogen and means of livelihood of the poorest people of the world, irrespective of which nation they belong to. By taking away cannabis and replacing it with alcohol, tobacco, opium, synthetic pharmaceutical medicines and illegal synthetic drugs like cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, the elites of the world capture the minds and bodies of the majority of the world's people and enslave the people to work for the industries that give wealth and power to the elites - the fossil fuel industry, the synthetic pharmaceutical industry, petrochemical-based non-biodegradable plastics, fossil-fuel-based construction, petrochemical-based synthetic fibers, timber-based paper, petrochemical-based fertilizers and pesticides, mining, cotton, sugarcane, and so on. To aid the elites in this pursuit, they are supported by the power structures that have been established in society that drive the people away from cannabis and towards the harmful substitutes created by the elites. The power structure's enabling elements are: the religious orthodoxy, law and drug enforcement, politicians, anti-cannabis groups, the media, the medical industry, the armed forces, to name a few. These entities are funded and supported by the industries opposed to cannabis and constantly create the anti-cannabis myths and propaganda, such as: cannabis causes insanity; cannabis is addictive and harmful; cannabis is more harmful than alcohol, opium and tobacco; cannabis is used by criminals and causes crime; cannabis is used by the lowest classes and castes of society; women who use cannabis are prostitutes; cannabis legalization will destroy the youth; and so on. Most of these myths were debunked more than 150 years ago itself, by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 set up by the British colonial rulers of India in order to prohibit cannabis and promote their alcohol, opium, tobacco and western medicine. But that did not stop the world from still going ahead and prohibiting cannabis.
Cuba, which has adopted an agenda that is supposed to ensure affordable education, universal healthcare and employment, has in one way become a reflection of China and Russia where people are free in some ways only. China now boasts of great economic and military growth while Cuba boasts of high levels of public health. But on many factors Cuba is as restrictive as China regarding its people's freedoms and as regressive as the federal US when it comes to recognizing the herb of the people.
Cuba, like all countries of the world, surely has its indigenous cannabis varieties and a long history of cultivating and consuming cannabis. Yet it has been as ready as any other country in the world to accept the cannabis prohibition for recreational use pushed through by the US through the UN. You would have expected Cuba in its defiance of Western value systems to resist the prohibition of cannabis but it also buckled just like any other pro-US country. One of the reasons for siding with the US with regard to cannabis prohibition probably is the same thinking that drove US actions. People who smoke cannabis will be liberal and free thinking. They are likely to question and speak out against repressive and restrictive government policies. That would not do good for a government that thinks it knows what is best for its people and that people should be controlled rather than served. Also, the Cuban tobacco lobby which produces the world's Cuban cigars and the alcohol companies that make Cuban rum probably have a say in the matter as do the other big businesses opposed to cannabis which surely thrive in Cuba as well. Chinese and Russian political influence on Cuba driven by funding from the big businesses in these countries is also strongly opposed to cannabis. Yet the cannabis culture still thrives underground in Cuba and has not been completely repressed, thankfully for its people.
With growing awareness and the resurgence of cannabis, it is high time that the Cuban government legalized cannabis for adult recreational use. Uruguay, Canada, Germany and South Africa were bold enough to take the step and are reaping the benefits. 24 US states have done so too (at the time of writing) with more joining the number at a rapid pace. Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and a number of South American countries are taking the intermediate step of legalizing cannabis for medical purposes. This, however, is just a way for the elites of these nations to legitimize their own use of cannabis, while imprisoning the majority of the people - the poor, the indigenous communities, minorities and the working classes - for the use of a herb that is rightfully theirs. In Mexico, the Supreme Court ruled that the prohibition of cannabis goes against an individual's constitutional rights but the legislature continues to keep cannabis banned in order to aid the cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl drug cartels that work closely with Mexican and US politicians to supply their drugs of preference and to profit from their illegal trade, besides the trade of dangerous synthetic pharmaceutical drugs that are both inaccessible and unaffordable to the common man.
In Cuba, the complete legalization of cannabis will introduce a truly universal medicine into the healthcare system at very accessible and affordable rates as everyone can at a minimum grow the plant at home. This will reduce the dependency on synthetic pharmaceutical companies, whether state run or private, and bring down the overall cost of healthcare significantly. Cannabis will provide farmers with a sustainable agricultural crop that has great market value and can be exported to various global markets. Cannabis will spawn a number of sustainable industries that will go a long way in reducing the harm to the environment as well as providing jobs and boosting the economy. Cannabis revenue and taxes can fund education, healthcare and public infrastructure projects as it is being done in the US states that have legalized cannabis for recreational use. Cannabis will reduce the harms from alcohol, tobacco, methamphetamine, heroin and other opioids, synthetic cannabinoids, novel psychotropic substances and abuse of prescription drugs that have surely moved in to replace cannabis in the recreational space especially among urban youth. The primary reasons cited by Canada and Germany for legalizing cannabis for recreational use were to reduce crime, shrink the black market and to protect the youth. The unstated reasons are that large sections of society now recognize, on the basis of the latest scientific evidence, that cannabis is very effective medicine against a host of illnesses and is much better than the harmful synthetic pharmaceutical drugs and the legal drugs alcohol and tobacco. Cannabis will infuse fresh thinking and perspectives into Cuban society and that will do good for everybody. The prohibition of cannabis affects the people who need it the most - the poorest, the minorities, the indigenous communities, the working classes, the elderly, the ill, the youth and women. All these are the very demographics that an inclusive political system is supposed to protect and the very ideals based on which the Cuban revolution happened. Yet these are the demographics that suffer the most because of cannabis prohibition. Cannabis can be a huge boost to tourism, food, beverages, wellness, research, animal feed, etc. Last but not least, Cuban cannabis, like Cuban cigars and Cuban rum could become a global brand, if sufficient unique varieties have been safeguarded so far and if the expertise of small farmers can be leveraged once again to produce it at full scale. Most of the western nations that championed the prohibition of cannabis now see a huge demand for it among the population but are unable to meet their demands because they do not have climatic conditions conducive for the cultivation of cannabis at large scales unlike the traditional cannabis growing nations of South America, Asia and Africa. If the traditional cannabis consuming nations produce cannabis at large scales, it will be sufficient to not only meet the local needs of the people but also become a key export commodity. Sugarcane, the raw material for sugar - one of Cuba's key export commodities - is not a sustainable crop. Cannabis can be grown at a fraction of the resources needed to cultivate sugarcane and its uses are many times more than that of sugarcane.
Some time back, a reporter from the Indian newspaper, The Hindu, wrote about his travel experience to Cuba. He wrote , ''As dusk falls, groups of men and women, from various parts of the world, pour into the streets with their guitars and drums, and what follows is a hearty, carefree gig with many of them dancing late into the night. Beer bottles pass hands. Occasionally the smell of marijuana wafts in the air. Yet another group of kindred spirits dance around a bonfire on the beach. “Got some stuff on you, man?” a grimy-looking guy, braids and all, asks me. It’s nirvana place, on the Pacific coast.' Most times though, Cuba's cannabis policies resemble that of the oppressive Communist nations China and Russia that it has chosen to model itself on. While the government and the media try to portray these countries as paradises on earth, the people who value their freedom try and do all they can to run away and find a new home in other nations that they perceive (wrongly, of course) as being the lands of freedom and equality. Hence you see Cubans trying to constantly migrate to the US where they only discover that they are as much second-class citizens as they were back home. The Hindu reported that 'It is a rare day in Cuba when the Communist Party’s triumphalist newspaper suggests that the government — just maybe — messed up. Or when the party’s chief ideologist renounces government secrecy. Or a salsa star, performing at an official concert, calls for the freedom to vote and to smoke marijuana.' It is time for the Cuban government, and all governments around the world, to realize that true progress of people happens when they are empowered to use their creative spirits freely and to be open and transparent. That is when a nation truly matures and thrives, not by strict control and spoon feeding which are the steps taken to bring up toddler nations where the people remain in an infantile, dependent and servile state. Cannabis legalization, completely without any restrictions and hurdles, is when a nation becomes truly free, and its citizens become equal, mature, free-thinking adult human beings...
Related articles
Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.
'As dusk falls, groups of men and women, from various parts of the world, pour into the streets with their guitars and drums, and what follows is a hearty, carefree gig with many of them dancing late into the night. Beer bottles pass hands. Occasionally the smell of marijuana wafts in the air. Yet another group of kindred spirits dance around a bonfire on the beach. “Got some stuff on you, man?” a grimy-looking guy, braids and all, asks me. It’s nirvana place, on the Pacific coast.'
'It is a rare day in Cuba when the Communist Party’s triumphalist newspaper suggests that the government — just maybe — messed up. Or when the party’s chief ideologist renounces government secrecy. Or a salsa star, performing at an official concert, calls for the freedom to vote and to smoke marijuana.'
No comments:
Post a Comment