Modern humans established the earliest civilization on the banks of the Nile around 120,000 years ago from where it spanned out into the different parts of the world. The civilization established at that time continues to flourish to this day. It is the civilization that saw the gods Osiris and Isis, the pharaohs and the pyramids, art and culture and rich progress. The Osiris of the Egyptians, I believe, is the Dionysius of the Greeks and the Siva of the Hindus, also known as Jehovah and Allah in the middle east. Osiris was killed and returned from the netherworlds, much like Dionysius and Siva, also known as Mrityunjaya, or 'victorious over death'. The similarities of these legends and many other factors indicate that there were common cultural and social links between the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, India and the Middle East. Over centuries, Islam established itself firmly in Egypt and the Middle East, as did Christianity in Greece and Vaishnavism and the Vedic religions in India. The suppression of the religion of Osiris with orthodox Islam, the replacement of Dionysius with Plato's class system, the replacement of Jehovah's religion with Jewish and Christian orthodoxy, and the replacement of Shaivism by the caste-based systems of Vaishnavism and the Vedic religions ran in parallel with the decimation of the god in the minds and the scriptures. Whole communities that believed in intoxication and ecstasy were subjugated to form the servants of the new masters, ending up as the lowest classes, castes and the outcasts. Nature worshipping indigenous communities, and societies that had largely remained classless and casteless for thousands of years were now stratified into hierarchies with the king or priest taking turns, with the help of the businessman, to rule over the people. Rigid codes of conduct were imposed, and sex, eating of meats and intoxication were among the prohibited things, especially since these were the practices of the subjugated communities who together formed the majority. Cannabis, the intoxicant and entheogen of the classless and casteless societies was gradually regulated and finally prohibited, primarily since it was the dear herb of Osiris, Dionysius, Jehovah, Allah or Siva.
Being one of the world's ancient civilizations like China and India, Egypt has consumed cannabis for thousands of years and the plant has been an integral part of religious, social, recreational and medical practices. It is only in the recent past, with the years under the UK's colonial rule that cannabis was prohibited in Egypt. The Indian Hemp Commission report of 1894 states that the earliest experiments with cannabis prohibition were carried out by the British in Burma, or today's Myanmar, Greece, India, Trinidad and Egypt. This appears to have been done to promote primarily opium that was vying with cannabis in these countries for the people's choice. In the 20th century, the sustained international pressure of the United States, the UK and Europe on countries across the globe ensured that this prohibition has continued for about 150 years now. The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95, constituted by the British colonists in India to study the feasibility of cannabis prohibition, reports that 'Egypt. 559. In Egypt the cultivation, use, and importation of hashish were first forbidden in 1868, but in 1874 it was allowed to be imported on payment of duty. In November 1877 an order was received from Constantinople that all hashish brought into Egypt was to be seized and destroyed, and finally, in March 1879, the importation and cultivation of hashish were prohibited by a Khedivial decree. In March 1884 it was provided that confiscated hashish should be sold by the Customs (for delivery abroad) instead of being destroyed as formerly, and the proceeds of the sale divided amongst the informers and officers who took part in the seizure. "This measure was rendered necessary," says Mr. Caillard, the Director-General of the Customs, "by the absence of any fund from which rewards could be distributed; while, on the other hand, the profits of smuggling being very great, large sums were paid by the smugglers to insure the silence or complicity of the Customs officers, coastguards-men, and others. A considerable number of persons are employed in the smuggling trade, many of them having no other means of subsistence. Great ingenuity is displayed by the smugglers in this illicit trade, and no sooner has one trick been discovered than another is invented. The great obstacle, however, to the complete repression of the contraband trade is the refusal of some of the European Governments to recognize the right of the Egyptian Government to search suspected shops or warehouses, and to punish the delinquents by fine as well as confiscation. In view of the impossibility of suppressing the contraband trade in hashish under the circumstances described above, I suggested to the Minister of Finance the desirability of removing the prohibition against the importation of the drug, and I proposed to collect a customs duty of P T. 100 per kilogramme (9s. 3d. per lb.), besides a license-tax on the sale of the hashish. It has been abundantly proved that the vice of hashish smoking cannot be suppressed by legislation, whereas by a system of licenses it may be kept under control to some extent." Mr. Caillard estimates that the quantity of hashish consumed annually in Egypt cannot be less than 50,000 okes (about lbs. 140,000) notwithstanding the prohibition. He states that the hashish appears to be manufactured chiefly in Greece.' The report further says, 'Basis of prohibition and results in these countries. 562. Thus in the case of other countries, where the use of the drugs has been prohibited, the Commission do not find in the literature available to them many arguments for prohibition. In Turkey it rests upon the theory accepted by orthodox Muhammadans that hashish "being a narcotic its use must of necessity be injurious," while in Egypt the prohibition emanated from Turkey. In both these countries the measure has by no means been attended with complete success. In Greece the prohibition in the cafés of Athens is based largely upon Indian experience, which the Commission have had cause in great measure to recast. In Trinidad, if there has been prohibition, it does not seem of late to have been effectual. It must be added that the Commission have no scientific information regarding the strength of the article of commerce called hashish, and it may differ to some extent from the Indian products. From the description of its manufacture given by the Mayor of Orchomenus in Mantinea in Arcadia, whence the Egyptian supply is mainly derived, it appears to resemble more the charas of Yarkand than the ganja or bhang of India.'
We see from the above report that it was primarily religious orthodoxy emanating from Turkey that made Egypt prohibit cannabis, as hashish, based on the argument that since it is intoxicating, it must be injurious. When one sees the timeline along which these religious strictures came to be disseminated and imposed, one sees a possible link between the religious injunctions and the erroneous reports that had emerged from the lunatic asylums of India, from the 1850s, that propagated the myth that cannabis caused insanity, specifically when smoked as ganja or hashish. Since high quality hashish was easily available in the areas surrounding Egypt, it was the form in which cannabis was consumed in Egypt, possibly from ancient times. The popularity of hashish is evident from the fact that Mr. Caillard, the Director-General of the Customs, admitted that prohibition was impossible due to smuggling, and recommended the regulated sale of hashish in Egypt. At that time, Egypt was also under British colonial rule, and so the same myths perpetrated by the ruling upper classes and castes in India were perpetrated by the ruling upper classes and castes in Egypt. Besides the myth that cannabis caused insanity, the myths that were propagated included: cannabis did not have religious sanction in the scriptures; cannabis caused crime and was used by criminals; cannabis was more harmful than opium, alcohol and tobacco; cannabis had no medicinal value; women who used cannabis were loose women; only the despicable lowest classes, castes and outcasts smoked cannabis, and so on...
For the British colonists, the underlying motive was the sale of opium, western medicines, alcohol and tobacco. For the religious orthodoxy in Egypt the underlying motive was the prevention of practices that were regarded as anti-Islamic and pagan. For the businessmen of Egypt, trade in opium, western medicines, alcohol and tobacco realized more revenues than trade in cannabis that was used primarily by the poorer sections of society. During this time, Iran and Afghanistan have emerged as hubs for methamphetamine and heroin. Countries in the Middle East such as Syria have emerged as key sources of amphetamine type substances (ATS) such as Captagon. Countries like Morocco and Afghanistan cannabis have emerged as key sources of cannabis in the black market. In addition to this, the increasingly widespread abuse of pharmaceutical drugs has emerged as a major threat to Egyptian society. The opioid drug tramadol is a classic example of this.
The result of Egypt's years of submission to British colonialism and Islamic religious orthodoxy has been a surge in the use of opium and its derivatives among the people. India, with whom Egypt has had historical trade and cultural relations, is today the world's leading producer of legal opium for the global synthetic pharmaceutical market. While India supplies the most refined forms of opium - heroin and morphine - to Europe, it supplies the lower grades of opioids, such as tramadol, to countries in Africa and the Middle East. The United Nations Office of Drug Control, in its World Drug Report 2020, stated that, 'The bulk of tramadol seized in the period 2014– 2018 was seized in West and Central Africa (notably in Nigeria, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and the Niger), followed by North Africa (notably Egypt, Morocco and the Sudan) and the Near and Middle East (notably Jordan and the United Arab Emirates). In some instances, countries in Western and Central Europe (notably Malta and Greece) have been used as transit countries for tramadol destined for North Africa (Egypt and Libya), although some of the tramadol seized in Europe (in particular Sweden) was also intended for the local market. For the first time ever, significant seizures of tramadol were reported in South Asia (India) in 2018, accounting for 21 per cent of the global total that year, which reflects the fact tramadol was put under the control of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of India in April 2018. As the full-scale scheduling of tramadol in India took place in 2018, and India had been the main source for (illegal) tramadol shipments, the decline in seizures outside India in 2018 may have been the result of a disrupted market. By contrast, and probably as a result of the control in India, seizures of tramadol in that country increased greatly in 2018, and thus in South Asia as a whole (more than 1,000-fold compared with a year earlier).'
To highlight the dangers of depriving the Egyptian people of natural, safe and healthy recreational cannabis, and replacing it with opium, alcohol and tobacco, one needs look no further than the 2020 UNODC World Drug Report. It says - 'In North Africa, tramadol is reported as the main opioid used non-medically in Egypt, where scientific literature about tramadol misuse is more available than elsewhere in the subregion. An estimated 3 per cent of the adult population misused tramadol in 2016, the latest year for which data are available, while 2.2 per cent were diagnosed with tramadol dependence. In drug treatment, tramadol was also the main drug, accounting for 68 per cent of all people treated for drug use disorders in 2017. A cross-sectional study conducted over the period 2012–2013 among 1,135 undergraduate college students in Egypt showed that 20.2 per cent of male and 2.4 per cent of female students had misused tramadol at least once during their lifetime, resulting in an overall lifetime prevalence of 12.3 per cent The average age of initiation of non-medical use of tramadol was around 17 years. Polydrug use was also quite common, with the majority of respondents (85 per cent) reporting use of either tobacco, alcohol or cannabis with tramadol. Among those who had misused tramadol, 30 per cent were assessed to be tramadol dependent.'
The flooding of the Egyptian market with Indian tramadol appears to have had a large impact on the youth. UNODC reports that 'With the exception of Nigeria, where 4.6 million people were estimated to have used opioids – mainly tramadol – in 2017, population-level prevalence estimates of the use of opioids are not available for countries in West, Central and North Africa. However, many countries in those subregions report high levels of non-medical use of tramadol. For example, in Egypt, 2.5 per cent of male and 1.4 per cent of female students aged 15–17 had misused tramadol in the past year. Students in that country also reported the use, to a lesser degree, of heroin or opium/morphine in 2016. Furthermore, data on the provision of treatment suggest that the prevalence of the non-medical use of opioids is quite high in Egypt. Tramadol tablets available in some parts of Africa are reportedly intended for the illicit market and may be of a dosage higher than usually prescribed for medical purposes.'
The increasing addiction to opioids, synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol and tobacco go hand in hand with the crackdown on cannabis and its users. The prohibition of cannabis has not meant that it has been removed from Egyptian society. It has only pushed it to the black market forcing people to interact with unscrupulous elements and towards more dangerous synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and heroin. The money from the black market also often flows to illegal arms dealers, drug traffickers and other criminal undertakings. The UNODC World Drug Report 2020 reports that between the period 2008-2018, Egypt was one of the countries with the largest cannabis seizures. UNODC reports that 'In 2018, the largest quantities of cannabis herb seized worldwide continued to be those reported by Paraguay, followed by the United States and India. Cannabis herb produced in Paraguay is reported to have been mainly destined for neighbouring Brazil (77 per cent) and Argentina (20 per cent). Over the period 2008–2018, the largest cannabis herb seizures worldwide took place in the United States, followed by Mexico, Paraguay, Colombia, Nigeria, Morocco, Brazil, India and Egypt'.
While tramadol is the pharmaceutical opioid used by Egyptian society for non-medical purposes, or to put it in the words of the religious orthodoxy - 'for intoxication' - this appears to mainly target the youth and the middle classes. Heroin, most likely sourced from Iran and Afghanistan, is probably the drug of the elites. Amphetamines are also popular in the Middle East and hence likely to be popular in neighbouring Egypt as well. Alcohol and tobacco find favor with the non-Islamic communities that do not have any restrictions on smoking or drinking alcohol.
Talking Drugs reports that a Christian MP in Egypt proposed the decriminalization of drugs as a harm reduction measure a few years back, when it says 'John Talaat, an independent MP and deputy governor of Cairo, has put forward draft legislation which would end the criminalisation of drug use, and offer people “treatment” instead. Talaat said this reform was necessary because “treatment is better” than “the cost that the state spends on [imprisonment]”. He also noted that many of those currently prosecuted for drug offences are young people, meaning that criminalisation is “wasting their future”.' Decriminalization of drugs is a progressive step in drug policy but more important is the legalization of cannabis for recreational purposes. Decriminalization does not address the root cause of the problem which is that society the world over needs a recreational drug. If it is not available legally, it will be procured illegally irrespective of the cost to society. Prohibition of legal drugs such as tobacco, alcohol or cannabis sets up the perfect environment for illegal drug businesses. People, given a choice, will choose the safest recreational drug available. Cannabis was one such drug - much safer than alcohol and tobacco - used for tens of thousands of years across the world. When it was removed from society, it created space for much more dangerous drugs to move in to take its place, such as synthetic opioids - heroin, morphine and tramadol - methamphetamine, and amphetamine type substances (ATS) - the recent plague of the Middle East, synthetic cannabinoids, novel psychotropic substances and cathinones.
Egypt has been a strong opponent of all cannabis legalization initiatives carried out in the UN and in neighbouring countries. Morocco World News, reported in March 2021 that 'The statement does not provide further details on the bill. However, the announcement about the bill comes just a few months after Morocco voted in favor of removing cannabis from the list of the UN’s Schedule IV category of drugs that have limited or no therapeutic use. Morocco was the only member of the UN Commission on Narcotics Drugs (CND) in the Middle East and North Africa region to give a nod to the removal of cannabis from the list of toxic substances. Algeria, Bahrain, and Egypt have all voted against the move.'
Egypt is one of the most powerful nations in North Africa with vast influence over the Middle East and the Arab nations that span these two regions. Egypt's rich past and culture, its relationship with the west due to British colonial rule, and its embracing of Islam mean that there is a confluence of different cultures in the country. It appears that the elites from all the various cultures have united to ensure that cannabis remains prohibited so that it is kept out of the hands of the working classes, the indigenous communities and the poor, so as to keep them shackled at the bottom of the class and caste pyramid, where they work ceaselessly to ensure that the power structure in society remains intact.
This need not be the case. The geography and climate of Egypt should make it conducive to grow cannabis even in times of water stress and rising temperatures. Legal cannabis introduced in the Egyptian market should, as in any other country of the world, boost agriculture, foster research, increase jobs, spawn multiple industries, increase tax collection, curb the black market, cut down the harms from more dangerous drugs like heroin and methamphetamine, boost tourism, to name just a few benefits. Careful research and study should yield a list of natural indigenous cannabis varieties endemic to Egypt. These should be preserved, revived and cultivated with Geographical Indicator (GI) tags to make available to the world distinct Egyptian varieties of cannabis. This can serve as a key trade and export commodity to many parts of the world.
Countries like Israel, Lebanon, Morocco and Cyprus have started taking steps to legalize cannabis for industrial, medical and recreational purposes. As the world increasingly becomes more knowledgeable about cannabis, its benefits and the misinformation that has been spread over the last 150 years regarding the plant, more and more countries are starting to recognize their mistake in prohibiting the plant and punishing its users.
For the Middle East in particular, cannabis offers a way out of the addiction to petrochemicals, the escalating arms races, regional conflicts and tensions and a sustainable way forward for agriculture, medicine, the economy and industry. The Palestinian suffering in neighbouring Israel has meant that large numbers of Palestinian refugees have sought refuge in Egypt. In the international forum, Egypt is a strong supporter of the Palestinian state. What Egypt appears to fail to recognize is that the Palestinian issue is primarily an issue of the ruling elite upper classes of Israel seeking to wrest even more control over the indigenous community and its lands. If Egypt legalized cannabis for all purposes, it would not only save its own vulnerable sections of society - the poor, the working classes, the indigenous communities, the elderly, women, the sick and the youth - it would be a strong message to other Islamic Arab countries to take similar measures and reform their societies. If the people of Palestine are granted back their right to cultivate cannabis, trade in it and use it, it will go a long way in loosening the grip that the ruling elites of Israel have over Palestine. It will enable the Palestinian people to live sustainable lives in independence. It will heal the Middle East and quell the tensions in the Arab world. Egypt can be vastly influential in bringing the Arab world together through cannabis legalization and trade among the countries. This combined pressure would directly impact Israel and its ally, the US, who benefit largely from cannabis prohibition, enabling the upper-class elites of Israel and the US to amass wealth through the sale of petrochemicals, synthetic pharmaceutical medicines, arms, chemical pesticides and fertilizers, opioids and use the ill-gotten wealth to suppress the Palestinians. But Egypt is not ready to go against the religious sanctions that create the hierarchical class-based societies that form the means to oppress the weak. It is for countries like Egypt, the largest Arab country in the region, to take the decisive steps to heal the wounds of the past and move towards a sustainable future for its people.
Cannabis introduced in a culture calms and de-stresses the culture, promoting more peaceful and innovative ways to live and to promote a sustainable future for the nation. The same can happen in Egypt as well. Cannabis will help Egypt to connect back with the intoxication and ecstasy of Osiris. It will enable the country to move to sustainable cannabis-based industries like bio-degradable plastics, textiles and fabrics that replace unsustainable cotton, hemp-based construction, biofuels, animal feed and so on. The social usage of cannabis will boost the food, beverages, wellness and tourism industries. Grown as an agricultural crop in the fertile Nile basin, cannabis can become one of the chief agricultural crops of Egyptian farmers. It is likely that Egyptian cannabis can produce hashish of quality comparable to Morocco, Lebanon and Afghanistan. Hashish, thus produced, can meet the needs of the Egyptian people as well as bring in significant revenue through exports to other parts of the world, especially Europe. As medicine, cannabis can replace vast categories of synthetic pharmaceutical medications that currently only the elite classes can access and afford. Cannabis as intoxicant can replace all the harmful heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, alcohol and tobacco that much of Egyptian society is currently addicted to.
Intoxication is a state of oneness with the divine. It is a divine state of mind. To say that intoxication is forbidden is to say that living is forbidden. For a society that attained maturity thousands of years ago, the current state of affairs is a regression into infantile immaturity, where the people are treated as infants, and the elites decide what to allow them and what to forbid. This is especially hypocritical considering that the elites access all that is said to be forbidden for the majority of the people. Strong nations like Egypt must recognize the errors of their ways in the past, and the cost of these errors, and take the right steps to correct these errors. Otherwise, we will see much of the Arab world igniting into flames stoked by countries like the Israel and its ally, the US and the industries opposed to cannabis...
In December 2020, the UN voted to remove cannabis from its most restricted Schedule IV category of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs based on recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO) which stated that the worst harmful effects of cannabis were talkativeness and laughter. It does, however, still remain in Schedule I, which is the least restrictive. This one move bythe UN itself should be sufficient to bring about the recreational legalization of cannabis in every nation and an overhaul of national drug laws. In April 2024, Germany and South Africa legalized cannabis for recreational purposes, joining the ranks of Canada, Uruguay, Malta and Luxembourg. The reasons cited by Germany and Canada for legalizing cannabis for recreational purposes were primarily: to shrink the black market; to reduce crime; and to protect the youth. We see all these to be problems affecting Egypt. Many nations have legalized 'medical cannabis' but this is just another way for the ruling classes to access cannabis labeling it as medicine when they consume it and as intoxicant when the lower classes consume it. It must be noted that in most places where cannabis legalization for recreational purposes has happened it took the efforts of the people who mobilized themselves through grassroots-level movements to bring about this change. Left to lawmakers legalization would have been impossible, as the main interests of lawmakers concern the protection of the big industries opposed to cannabis such as pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, medical, alcohol and tobacco. For something that truly benefits the people, the people themselves have had to make the change.
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.
'The statement does not provide further details on the bill. However, the announcement about the bill comes just a few months after Morocco voted in favor of removing cannabis from the list of the UN’s Schedule IV category of drugs that have limited or no therapeutic use.
Morocco was the only member of the UN Commission on Narcotics Drugs (CND) in the Middle East and North Africa region to give a nod to the removal of cannabis from the list of toxic substances.
Algeria, Bahrain, and Egypt have all voted against the move.'
'The bulk of tramadol seized in the period 2014– 2018 was seized in West and Central Africa (notably in Nigeria, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and the Niger), followed by North Africa (notably Egypt, Morocco and the Sudan) and the Near and Middle East (notably Jordan and the United Arab Emirates). In some instances, countries in Western and Central Europe (notably Malta and Greece) have been used as transit countries for tramadol destined for North Africa (Egypt and Libya), although some of the tramadol seized in Europe (in particular Sweden) was also intended for the local market. For the first time ever, significant seizures of tramadol were reported in South Asia (India) in 2018, accounting for 21 per cent of the global total that year, which reflects the fact tramadol was put under the control of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of India in April 2018.
As the full-scale scheduling of tramadol in India took place in 2018, and India had been the main source for (illegal) tramadol shipments, the decline in seizures outside India in 2018 may have been the result of a disrupted market. By contrast, and probably as a result of the control in India, seizures of tramadol in that country increased greatly in 2018, and thus in South Asia as a whole (more than 1,000-fold compared with a year earlier).' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf
'In North Africa, tramadol is reported as the main opioid used non-medically in Egypt, where scientific literature about tramadol misuse is more available than elsewhere in the subregion. An estimated 3 per cent of the adult population misused tramadol in 2016, the latest year for which data are available, while 2.2 per cent were diagnosed with tramadol dependence. In drug treatment, tramadol was also the main drug, accounting for 68 per cent of all people treated for drug use disorders in 2017. A cross-sectional study conducted over the period 2012–2013 among 1,135 undergraduate college students in Egypt showed that 20.2 per cent of male and 2.4 per cent of female students had misused tramadol at least once during their lifetime, resulting in an overall lifetime prevalence of 12.3 per cent The average age of initiation of non-medical use of tramadol was around 17 years. Polydrug use was also quite common, with the majority of respondents (85 per cent) reporting use of either tobacco, alcohol or cannabis with tramadol. Among those who had misused tramadol, 30 per cent were assessed to be tramadol dependent.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf
'With the exception of Nigeria, where 4.6 million people were estimated to have used opioids – mainly tramadol – in 2017, population-level prevalence estimates of the use of opioids are not available for countries in West, Central and North Africa. However, many countries in those subregions report high levels of non-medical use of tramadol. For example, in Egypt, 2.5 per cent of male and 1.4 per cent of female students aged 15–17 had misused tramadol in the past year. Students in that country also reported the use, to a lesser degree, of heroin or opium/morphine in 2016. Furthermore, data on the provision of treatment suggest that the prevalence of the non-medical use of opioids is quite high in Egypt. Tramadol tablets available in some parts of Africa are reportedly intended for the illicit market and may be of a dosage higher than usually prescribed for medical purposes.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_2.pdf
'In 2018, the largest quantities of cannabis herb seized worldwide continued to be those reported by Paraguay, followed by the United States and India. Cannabis herb produced in Paraguay is reported to have been mainly destined for neighbouring Brazil (77 per cent) and Argentina (20 per cent). Over the period 2008–2018, the largest cannabis herb seizures worldwide took place in the United States, followed by Mexico, Paraguay, Colombia, Nigeria, Morocco, Brazil, India and Egypt' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf
Recreational marijuana legalization and voluntary treatment for 'hard' drugs should be the policy...
'John Talaat, an independent MP and deputy governor of Cairo, has put forward draft legislation which would end the criminalisation of drug use, and offer people “treatment” instead. Talaat said this reform was necessary because “treatment is better” than “the cost that the state spends on [imprisonment]”. He also noted that many of those currently prosecuted for drug offences are young people, meaning that criminalisation is “wasting their future”.'
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