Thoughts from the void: Cannabis and Iceland

Iceland seems to be following the same path as Sweden and Finland in terms of looking to adopt a policy of decriminalization of drugs as a way forward to handle the drug menace that the country faces. There have been reports of moves to establish various Drug Consumption Rooms or DCRs as a part of the decriminalization policy. DCRs will provide a safe environment for a drug consumer to consume a drug with facilities like needle exchange programs, medical supervision and consultation being provided. There could also be drug testing for adulteration to ensure that the consumer is not using contaminated drugs.

Iceland, like other Scandinavian countries, has seen a recent spike in heroin addiction. This has led to an increase in the threat of using shared and contaminated needles as well as the likelihood of consuming poor quality and adulterated drugs. Along with heroin, other drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine, synthetic cannabinoids, prescription medication, novel psychotropic substances and opioids have entered the recreational drug list. Being highly addictive and often lethal in nature, these drugs have contributed to the ever increasing number of persons taking up harmful drugs and ending up in exponentially increasing fatalities. The recent UNODC World Drug Report 2020 says that methamphetamine from East Asia's laboratories mainly in Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia, now reach Iceland. Besides this, even though the report does not mention it, surely amphetamine type substances (ATS) from the Middle Eastern countries like Lebanon and Syria, synthetic cathinones from Russia and opioids from Iran and Afghanistan find their way into the country.

The exposure of younger and older generations to these drugs is a cause for worry leading to the formulation of new drug policies to try and address the issues in different ways given the failure of traditional law enforcement and criminalization laws. What needs to be understood by the policy makers is that just as criminalization was flawed, decriminalization is also similarly flawed. Both these policy approaches to drugs make a very wrong assumption and build their policy on that assumption. The wrong assumption is that all drugs are equal and hence should be criminalized or decriminalized to the same extent. What this fails to see is that fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin, and that alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs and opioids are many times more potent than cannabis is. The most effective drug policy would be to legalize the most safe, time tested and healthy recreational drugs, the natural ones, such as cannabis.

Iceland needs to understand the medicinal and recreational value of cannabis and move to its complete legalization for adult recreational use. This will provide Icelandic society with a safe, pleasurable and medicinal drug as an alternative to heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, opioids, prescription drugs, synthetic cannabinoids, alcohol and tobacco. Iceland needs to be up to date with the findings emerging from the places where cannabis legalization is taking place such as Uruguay, Canada, the US, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, etc. and its own neighbors Norway and Denmark. If there is any stigma in Icelandic society that cannabis is a drug for the lower non-white classes and that Icelandic society is an elite white society, then such illusions need to be removed and the country needs to understand the degrees of harm and benefits of each drug policy.

On a broader stage, Iceland needs to support the re-scheduling of cannabis in the UN so that it can be made freely available to all nations opening up the way for world wide cultivation and trade of cannabis between all countries enabling everyone including the poorest of the poor, the minorities, indigenous communities, the sick, the old, the youth and the women of all lands to access this most vital herb.

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.

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. For something that truly benefits the people, the people themselves have had to make the change.

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.

'While methamphetamine trafficking flows from East and South-East Asia to countries outside the subregion remain modest, some smuggling to destinations around the world was reported, mainly smuggling from Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar in 2018 or, when the period is extended to the past five years, mainly from China and Thailand. Destinations outside the subregion included countries in South Asia, the Near and Middle East (Saudi Arabia as well as Israel), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), North America (the United States as well as Canada), Western Europe (notably Switzerland as well as Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Iceland), Eastern Europe (notably the Russian Federation) and Africa (notably South Africa) over the period 2014–2018' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

Afghanistan and Mexico source the heroin and morphine. Mexico, Thailand, Myanmar and China source the methamphetamine. The Middle East and Eastern Europe sources the amphetamine. The US consumes heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Europe consumes heroin, morphine, methamphetamine and amphetamine. Asia consumes heroin, morphine and methamphetamine. Australia consumes methamphetamine. The Middle East consumes heroin and amphetamine. West Asia consumes heroin and methamphetamine. All countries grow and consume cannabis. Opioids, methamphetamine and amphetamines kill the most in terms of drug deaths, cannabis kills none. Who are the leading opponents to cannabis legalization and leading enforcers of global anti-cannabis policy? The countries involved the most in heroin, morphine, amphetamines and methamphetamines. They put on a mask of concern about harms from drugs, produce, sell and consume the most dangerous synthetic drugs and vehemently oppose cannabis legalization worldwide while clandestinely feeding their habits and protecting their sources. They use arms and armies to protect and promote their synthetic drug habits, and drug money to fund and wage a war on cannabis everywhere, pushing man and planet ever closer to death on massive scales and away from the safe, healing cannabis herb...
Jul 10, 2020, 1:14 PM

Cannabis and the Medical Industry

https://ravingkoshy.blogspot.com/2020/11/cannabis-and-medical-industry.html

With no scientific basis global drug laws are invalid
https://ravingkoshy.blogspot.com/2020/06/with-no-scientific-basis-global-drug.html

A Look At The NDPS Act 1985 From A Cannabis Perspective
https://ravingkoshy.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-look-at-ndps-act-1985-from-cannabis.html

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Cannabis and Iceland

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