Robert Sharp: The main ethical problem with cannabis is its provenance
A very nice piece by Robert Sharp on the ethics around cannabis that are rarely discussed:
[I]t suffices to say that the sinister underworld elements who supply our green, represent a challenge to anyone who considers themselves socially liberal. What is to be done? With legalisation still a generation away, progressives need to take matters into their own hands. They need to foster a new drug buying culture, and put more effort into the act of acquiring their drugs. In short, they need to buy Fair Trade Weed.
Posted on April 29th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
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Filed under Civil liberties |
Or you could just grow your own.
Jim Bliss’s latest blog post… Just testing
Nooooo! The police helicopters with the infrared cameras looking for heat from hydroponic lamps will catch you. And everybody’s electricity bill goes through the MI5 computer.
The police helicopters with the infrared cameras looking for heat from hydroponic lamps will catch you.
I have actually noticed a Met helicopter doing very systematic sweeps of my local area late on weekend nights - block by block, street by street, every six months or so.
In my dreams could I buy Fair Trade Weed. Most of the time you just get it where you can find it. As was said in the comments to that piece, legalisation would make it much easier to check on the provenance of what you buy, since you might actually have a choice of where to buy from.
Thanks for t’link, Justin.
In my dreams could I buy Fair Trade Weed. Most of the time you just get it where you can find it.
That’s the rub, Katherine. If you can’t get FTW then I’m questioning whether you should be buying “whatever you cn get” at all. The ethical choice would be to follow Jim Bliss’s suggestion…
Would this be implemented as part of “joined up government”?
They give you the problems, which turn you to drugs (which they supply) and then they give you the treatment to undo the negatives of taking the drugs.
“Jointed government”, surely.
Robert’s latest blog post… ‘Free Tibet’ flags made in China
I have on more than one occasion considered the advisability of writing a piece for the guardian blog suggesting that many of the problems of the sex trafficking industry could similarly be solved with a tastefully tattooed “Fair Trade” logo that could be subtly integrated into the tattoos that many prostitutes already have on their lower backs, but have always balked in the end, thinking that it was probably in poor taste.
…thinking that it was probably in poor taste.
Not to mention (I imagine) easily forgeable by the committed people-trafficker. How would you propose to circumvent the wiles of the criminal mind, D?
to be honest it was more of a whimsy than a serious proposal.
Dammit man, we need more whimsical thinkers.
At least we know the provenance of the heroin sold in the UK. It comes from poppy fields guarded by Her Majesty’s army.
Re. grow your own: this makes sense - as long as you don’t then sell it (think home-brewed wine and beer ). The ’social’ aspects of cannabis culture - e.g. sharing - would be obvious if it was then on a par with giving your neighbour the equivalent of some of this year’s garden crop.