I vaguely remember that, in the sixties (I think), Sweden decriminalised pornography and the world gasped, waiting for the whole moral order to implode. Unsurprisingly, there was an initial spike in the Swedish people’s involvement in porn. They probably attracted more South African tourists too, because it was still verboten in RSA.
And then things calmed down.
After a while, the novelty wore off and the statistics returned pretty much to what they had been before. I don’t know for sure, but we could probably adduce some similar statistical trends from pre- and post-prohibition USA (minus the RSA tourists!) vis à vis alcohol consumption. My guess is that something similar will happen with regard to the legalisation of weed in South Africa.
However, I don’t believe that a few people now being able to enjoy a zol on the front veranda instead of in the loo is really the issue. At age sixty-five I have still never used dagga (or any narcotic, apart from a few wonderful hits of morphine after surgery), but I don’t really have an issue with it. In fact, I prefer its smell to that of smoldering tobacco leaves.
In spite of being an enthusiastic drinker of fermented grape juice myself, I have to point out that some of the nicest, most irenic, people I know have the occasional joint (yes, I used to consort with criminals!) and, contrariwise, some of the most unpleasant, aggressive, and brutal people I know drink alcohol which—indubitably—fuels their aggression. Sadly, I have also known some teetotalers who were so unpleasant and aggressive that they made getting drunk seem like a good idea.
So, why has weed been illegal for so long, while alcohol seems to be, not only legal, but socially acceptable—almost a requirement? Why is tobacco, an acknowledged carcinogen, tolerated? I think the answer lies in one little word: excise. The governments of most of the countries in the world collect vast amounts of money from the alcohol and tobacco industries via excise duties. Banning the sale of alcohol or tobacco would damage the exchequer (as would banning gambling, but that’s another issue). They go through the motions—banning advertising, for example—but they don’t stop the trade.
I wonder if prostitution might be more acceptable if there were a viable way for governments to receive excise income from each trick that was turned. I wonder how long we’ll have to wait before the government figures out a way to tax spliffs.
To use the words of G. K. Chesterton in the Ballad of the White Horse:
I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.
Sadly, as long as we have laws and police forces that seem to be disproportionately more focussed on “protecting” the public from the onslaught of pirated brand-name apparel, handbags, and watches, we are going to continue losing the battle against iniquities like child pornography, sex slavery, the drug trade, human trafficking, rape, and murder, not to mention corrupt politicians.
The Bible sums it up very well (as usual): “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint” (Proverbs 29:18 NIV). That’s the reality of the world today; few submit to the direction of long-established principles, be they biblical, qur'anic, or based on the mores of a culture. Most organisations (and people) simply do what seems best for themselves without any thought of the consequences. If it’s profitable, then it’s worth doing, even if it damages or destroys the lives of countless others. In the words of a certain sports equipment company: “√ just do it”.
To conclude: If the use of dagga were the last great problem that we had to face, then maybe I’d take the matter a bit more seriously, but it certainly is not. I think that legalising the private use of cannabis in South Africa will probably do as much harm as the publication of the Da Vinci Code did some years ago. And we all know what a fuss that caused!
There are far more important issues to worry about.