Georgia has been in the news regarding its government's plan to legalize the medical use of cannabis and its cultivation for export. Georgia Today reported some time back that 'IPN also says that the MIA confirmed the information, saying the government has prepared a legislative initiative that permits marijuana production in Georgia for export and for use in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. "However, marijuana cultivation and distribution in the country remains a criminal offense and is punishable,” the MIA stated.'
This has been met with some opposition from the conservative Georgian church which has gone on to say that it may allow the legalization of cannabis for medical use but it is opposed to the legalization of cannabis for recreational use and will never permit the same to happen.
The church's interference in matters that are beyond the scope of its expertise and the damage that this causes in society is evident from the fact that, while the church opposes cannabis - a traditional, medicinal, natural recreation plant that has been used by humans for tens of thousands of years for many purposes, especially spirituality - methamphetamine flows into Georgia from traditionally Iran and increasingly Afghanistan as stated in the 2020 United Nations Office of Drug Control (UNODC) World Drug Report , which states 'Most of the clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia has traditionally been in the Islamic Republic of Iran, being manufactured both for the local market and for export to countries in East and South-East Asia (including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) as well as for export to Central Asia and the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan) and to Europe (including Bulgaria, France, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United Kingdom). However, the Islamic Republic of Iran is not the main source of the methamphetamine found in other countries in the Near and Middle East/SouthWest Asia (with the exception of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic). The main source countries for other countries in this subregion seem to continue to be countries in East and South-East Asia. The extent of clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Islamic Republic of Iran actually appears to be declining, while manufacturing is rapidly increasing in neighbouring Afghanistan.'
Failing to recognize the need for healthy recreational drugs, of which cannabis is the world's foremost, and opposing it while dangerous synthetic drugs flood the market in addition to the legal, but harmful, alcohol and tobacco is an example of misdirected energy that causes more harm than good. Religious orthodoxy has played a large part in keeping cannabis prohibited not just in Georgia, but also in most other countries including India, Russia, the US, New Zealand, Italy and most Islamic countries. Even though the religion varies across nations, religious orthodoxy across nations and religions finds common ground in their opposition to cannabis. Religious orthodoxy views cannabis as a threat to its hold on society, primarily because the lower classes and castes, minorities and indigenous communities that are enslaved through religion may decide to deal directly with god, using cannabis as entheogen, rather than employ the services of, and submit to the commands of the religious orthodoxy. Hence, religious orthodoxy spreads myths such as cannabis is not sanctioned by the scriptures; cannabis users are pagan outcasts; cannabis is the devil's weed; cannabis users are criminals; cannabis causes insanity; cannabis causes intoxication; cannabis increases sexual desire; and so on...What most of the religious orthodoxy forget is that the spiritual leader to whom they claim to hold allegiance was most likely a lover of cannabis as much as a lover of the oppressed and downtrodden whose herb cannabis has always been. Through its opposition to cannabis, religious orthodoxy enables the further concentration of power among the ruling classes that include the priestly, political and business classes.
The cannabis plant offers an opportunity for Georgia to address its health, agricultural, economic, industrial, environmental and recreational problems and to move towards correcting the harms that have been inflicted on society through the wrong laws that have prohibited cannabis. Legalizing the plant for adult recreational use within Georgia is more important than cultivating the crop for export to other countries. It is important to first provide one's people with healthy medicine before trying to sell it to others. Medical cannabis only benefits the elite ruling classes of one's own country or the elites of the very western nations that oppose cannabis legalization globally, claiming that when the elites use it, it is medicine, whereas when the poorer sections of society use it, it is a drug. Only if cannabis is completely legalized will it become available to the most vulnerable sections of society - the poor, the working classes, the indigenous communities, the minorities, the elderly, the sick and women. Canada legalized cannabis in October 2018 to shrink the black market for drugs and to protect the youth. It has been largely successful in its efforts and has emerged as one of the world leaders in export of medical cannabis. Germany legalized cannabis in April 2024 to reduce crime and protect the youth. South Africa legalized cannabis in 2024 as its Constitutional Court ruled that cannabis prohibition violated the constitutional rights of the individual.
Growing scientific information is debunking all the myths that kept cannabis prohibited globally for nearly a century now. While Europe, North America and Oceania have embraced the latest scientific evidence regarding the benefits of cannabis, much of Asia and Africa still remains rooted in the myths and propaganda used by the colonizers to prohibit cannabis in the first place. Some of these myths are: 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.
For something that truly benefits the people, the people themselves have had to make the change. In December 2020, the UN voted to remove cannabis from its most restricted Schedule IV category of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It does however still remain in Schedule I, which is the least restrictive. This one move by the UN itself should be sufficient to bring about the recreational legalization of cannabis in every nation and an overhaul of national drug laws. Correcting these laws represents a chance for the country to be a part of the word wide cannabis revolution which represents a chance for man to correct his headlong path towards self destruction or at the very least of slowing down the inevitable. Whether the government and the church leaders have the vision to see this and to embrace the divine plant in time remains to be seen. It must be noted that in most places where cannabis legalization 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. The power structures that enabled the oppression of the vast majority of the world are no longer tenable. In the kingdom of god, paradise on earth, cannabis holds a central place as to the humans and other beings that love the divine herb...
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.
'Most of the clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia has traditionally been in the Islamic Republic of Iran, being manufactured both for the local market and for export to countries in East and South-East Asia (including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) as well as for export to Central Asia and the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan) and to Europe (including Bulgaria, France, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United Kingdom). However, the Islamic Republic of Iran is not the main source of the methamphetamine found in other countries in the Near and Middle East/SouthWest Asia (with the exception of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic). The main source countries for other countries in this subregion seem to continue to be countries in East and South-East Asia. The extent of clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Islamic Republic of Iran actually appears to be declining, while manufacturing is rapidly increasing in neighbouring Afghanistan.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf
'IPN also says that the MIA confirmed the information, saying the government has prepared a legislative initiative that permits marijuana production in Georgia for export and for use in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. "However, marijuana cultivation and distribution in the country remains a criminal offense and is punishable,” the MIA stated.'
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