Cigarette smoking is dangerous…. A hazard to your health, man.
Those words by Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley kick off his “Legalize Marijuana”. Funnily, Marley came from a country which embraced marijuana. Made it a symbol of its nation, with Rastafarianism – a religion developed in that country in the 1930s – including cannabis use as one of its main doctrines. In fact cannabis, or ganja, is a spiritual act, which not only cleans, but also heals, the body and soul of the believers.
To us in the West, cannabis was most often used for its recreational purposes, to take the edge off after a long day’s work, rather than for its spiritual connections. However, in recent decades, weed has found increasing use as a medicine to treat ailments ranging from cataracts to cancer.
A total of 23 states have legalized cannabis for medical use in the united States, although in some cases, reports have shown that some people only get a prescription because they are merely stoners who want an easier and legal way to obtain their kush.
It is supposedly relatively easy to get a doctor’s prescription, and purchase weed from licensed retail facilities which dot many cities in the U.S. of A. A large economy has grown around it, which a recent article by Foreign Policy says grew by 17 percent in 2015 to 5.4 billion US dollars last year alone.
Many people have argued that actually legalizing the drug would benefit the economy for several reasons. For one, it would weed out (no pun intended) the drug black market and tax this revenue, while secondly, it would free prisons from relatively low-level criminals. Further saving money from the budget.
Poland is still a far way off from accepting the drug, but a new bill by new MP Liroy could change that.
Let me go into a little background as to who Liroy is. A former rapper, whose hits include this hit track Scoobiedoo, joined Paweł Kukiz, himself a rock musician, and his merry band of Poles disgruntled with the establishment to form the Kukiz’15 movement, a significant part of the opposition in the Polish parliament.
Now Liroy has submitted a bill which aims to legalise the use of marijuana for medical use. At this juncture it is unclear whether the drug would only be used by hospitals, or follow a similar path as the US, which opened the road for countless stoners to indulge in their favorite pastime: rolling a big fat one, and lighting some greens.
Talking about green. It is honestly unlikely the bill will get the green light, as many of the governing Law and Justice MPs will likely vote against such a motion if it ever gets to that stage. Still, things might be moving ahead in Poland, and it only remains to be seen whether Warsaw could one day become the next AMSTERDAM!