The fact that weed is a much better option to relax than alcohol and other drugs is confirmed by data from numerous statistics and research in countries that don’t consider it a crime. From the U.S. state of Colorado to Uruguay, from the Netherlands to California, it’s the same story: an obvious drop in the crime rate, considerably less traffic accidents, with a drastic decrease of “heavy” drugs etc. Here weed is a crime offence because public prosecutors and legal advisers earn a good living from the misfortune of other. The unethical behaviour of these ignominious legal advisers has led to distrust in the police, which in this story shares the least responsibility for the growing crime rates in our country.
I stopped smoking weed because it is expensive and of low quality. All the hustle with the drug dealers and the constant fear from the police is quite unnecessary. To be honest, I rather hate dealers but respect the police, and I simply don’t smoke weed because certain dubious structures in society treat cannabis as a crime and evil. Weed isn’t evil, weed is cool and everyone who claims otherwise is lying their pants off. Truth is, weed isn’t pleasant for everyone, like, for example, I can’t stand pumpkin. A nibble makes me puke, so I never eat pumpkin. If weed isn’t pleasant for you, don’t smoke it, end of story. As different as we might be, God still made sure there is enough space for everyone on this planet.
Another point – people who have never tried weed or have had a bad trip from smoking this holy herb have no place discussing it. We are truly different, hence we enjoy different things. Alcohol doesn’t agree with me so I rarely drink, with the exception of one shot now and then because that’s the acceptable dosage for me. Anything above a shot makes me sick. I’ve seen people plastered on Rakia, charging at each other, getting into shit without even knowing it. On the other hand, weed smokers are always smiling, calm and in a positive mood. I’ve never seen someone getting into a fight under the influence of weed, although I’ve witnessed numerous arguments among stoned people, and I have to admit, to an outsider it sure looks hilarious and absurd, but they’re easily interrupted and forgotten. Simply put: weed can’t and shouldn’t be compared to alcohol, heroin, cocaine, or, for that matter, with nicotine, which is proven to cause cancer.
Nowadays, smoking weed is a criminal offence because it suits certain structures in society who can’t do their job as they should. I am referring to public prosecutors who lack the courage to fight real criminals and have found a way to ease their troubled conscience (if they have any), justify their salary and reputation. Students and regular working people are the most common weed smokers. Also, weed isn’t that much accessible to the outcast since it costs more than Rakia and heroin, and the buzz is certainly weaker. The legal profession is a serious business but has created an entire system of this story, a system harmful to every nation’s intelligence. If our children at faculty are proclaimed criminals for smoking a joint before a concert or sex, but we allow drug dealers and other criminals to walk about freely, then corruption has certainly reached a new low.
The public prosecutor is an untouchable institution, very powerful with a legal armoury at hand, sufficient to destroy someone’s life. Instead of focusing all our efforts on real criminals, students and working people, beneficial to society and certainly not harmful, continue to be persecuted. What is the damage inflicted to society by an individual cultivating a plant in their apartment, smoking it alone or in company? The criminal offence “endangering the public health” for smoking weed – even when done at one’s own place – is no joke. Three months of imprisonment or a year on parole is the price so unselfishly awarded to our students by the state. Not to mention this so-called “opportunity” offered by the state, exploiting fear in an utterly humiliating and dishonest way, dropping the charges if the “accused” individual admits the offence and pays a fine of 500 Euros. This is how the state robs people who have had the misfortune to be caught by the police with half a gram of weed. The students and their parents, terrified, agree hastily to this humiliation rather than raising their voice.
In my lifetime, I’ve had the opportunity to deal with the police on two occasions for minimal amounts of weed (less than three grams). In both cases the police treated me with upmost decency and kindness. They actually got me out of a bigger shit by offering useful advice, something I can’t say about lawyers and public prosecutors. The public prosecutor treated me as though I have killed someone, while the lawyer took me for all the money I had, doing nothing I couldn’t have done myself as ignorant as I am in law. With the police officers, I noticed how sick and tired they were of drug dealers walking about freely, feeling stupid for arresting children who have nothing to do with crime. But, fuck, the police has to do their job because it’s the “law”. Let’s not fool ourselves, the police arrest drug dealers and criminals as well, only they are not prosecuted for it as gravely as weed smokers, and it’s no fault of the police. Unfortunately, the police has a bad reputation in this region, because even grannies gossip that “the police deals drugs” since “the police knows everything”. Certain conspiracy theorists claim that intelligence services deal drugs for lack of other financing sources, doing this through convicted criminals who gladly accept their offer in exchange for their freedom. The internet is brimming with similar stories, but stories like these should finally be put to an end. The police is not evil, being a police officer is an honour but challenging with such laws. I repeat, the police is great compared to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. A public prosecutor would literally lynch anyone because it’s their job to do so, proving their lack of ethics and honour in cases when prosecuting students for two grams of weed. Behaving as Nazi soldiers executing orders. The police is different, at least some police officers, but all public prosecutors are just machines grinding everything in their way, while you’re helpless with hands tied and lips sealed for fear of getting into troubles. How horrifying it is that we must keep our mouths shut on this topic while our students and working people are getting arrested.
I would love to be able to smoke weed like people do in the Netherlands, Uruguay, Portugal… openly and without persecution. I don’t want to be arrested for smoking weed. What I do with my body is no one’s business but mine. My body isn’t a public property!!! Smoking isn’t an illness, particularly not a contagious one. Why would someone without any logic or ethics apply such an inquisitorial law against such an “unproblematic” layer of society? Smoking weed is no danger to the public health because I repeat: our bodies are not public property. Everyone has the right to eat, drink and smoke whatever they want. We don’t have to agree with it, but we definitively have no right to deprive someone of it, especially not the right to destroy someone’s future “legally”. I don’t want to smoke weed anymore but I would like to express my opinion on a law I don’t consider O.K.
I was watching Joe Rogan smoking weed in a studio with Elon Musk. The video had around 50 million views on YouTube. Were those two endangering the public health? I don’t know, you be the judge of that, but if it happened in Macedonia, our Public Prosecutor’s Office would throw them both in jail as criminals. Does it mean we don’t need people like Elon Musk? That we have no use of someone who makes electric cars or space shuttles? We treat those kind of people like criminals and imprison them. There are countless examples of destinies destroyed because of the law on “endangering the public health”. Do we care more that the public prosecutors earns their salary and obey inquisitional laws? What kind of people keep their mouths shut in the face of such laws? Fuck it, smoking weed isn’t a crime even in Russia.
Legalizing weed won’t be necessary. Decriminalization is a simpler way of saving the lives of students and working people from destruction. Public prosecutors, on the other hand, should start doing the job they’re paid for. Fact is crime rates are growing annually only here and it should be said loud and clear that our students and the working citizens paying taxes regularly are not to blame for this situation. In a hundred years or so, these times will be recorded by history ink, and those who have sent a student in jail or sentenced them to parole properly condemned. The nation needs smart and educated people to lead us into the future, and it’s high time we raised our voices against the law on “endangering the public health” and the hypocritical work practiced by public prosecutors without a shred of ethics. Lest we forget, while we keep our mouths shut before such laws, those from whom we could all certainly benefit, and never lose, suffer.
I hope that an initiative on repealing all discriminatory and inquisitorial laws would be launched in near future in order for people to finally be able to trust the judiciary. What politicians have to fear is a puzzle to me, however, cannabis legalization for medical purposes, for instance, didn’t stir any protests or serious negative reactions. Why couldn’t Macedonia become the next Netherlands or California? What’s so bad in that? I continue to hope for a better world, but I know it could never happen on its own, while we all keep silent in front of injustice.
Author: Pexim SLani, a Russian classic from Ilidža is the author of many blogs, a passivist and drilosopher. Qurtzu-Izdat, Pasivisticki Nepokret Josh and Drilosophy, just to name few of the gifts bestowed by this exceptionally unimportant person.