Lockdown definitively proves Cannabis no ‘Demon Weed’ – in fact the opposite!

Maybe the SA Government will take note of the irrefutable evidence it has gathered during the lockdown that proves that alcohol is by far the biggest social ill currently infecting the South African populace. When booze was banned hospitals emptied out, domestic violence incidents all but disappeared and road deaths could be counted on one hand. Prior to this if drunk South Africans were not maiming or killing themselves behind the wheel or the kitchen counter, they were doing so in record numbers to their ‘loved ones’. We are such a sick society that we normalised this mayhem within our Zeitgeist – so much so that not much has changed as we have moved to level one lockdown. Or perhaps not much has obviously changed.

Initial indications are that as many as 15% of South Africans have given up alcohol and cigarettes due to the forced sobriety induced by the lockdown and subsequently being able to accurately assess their financial and physical wellbeing. I am all for freedom to choose, but please can public and health policy be based on empirical evidence and not the prejudices of a small cohort of moral dinosaurs who feel they have the power to decide what South Africans can do with their bodies?

Few observers have noted that Cannabis was not banned during the lockdown and in fact the only thing that was difficult to obtain was hemp rolling papers needed to roll a joint. Our hospitals were not full of violent stoned criminals and the roads seemed calmer than normal – perhaps no coincidence? Cannabis is now globally regarded as medicine for a whole host of ills, including lung cancer caused by smoking cigarettes. A friend of mine has an adopted 12 year-old son with severe ADHD (a condition caused by fetal alcohol syndrome). He was recently expelled for erratic behaviour, from the only private school his parents will ever afford because the mother is a member of staff there. For most of their life they have spent a large sum of money seeking the best help for his condition and the one prescribed medication (Concerta, Ritalin etc) is worse than the next in terms of the side effects the child experiences. He was weighing under 40kgs and extremely unhappy when it was suggested she try CBD capsules freely available from leading pharmacies in SA. Within a week the child started gaining weight, sleeping properly and soon came off all other medication with zero adverse side effects – in her words – ‘It is a miracle!’ The young man’s school marks even showed a slight improvement and for the first time in his life he seems happy.

The Constitutional Court in South Africa has instructed our Government to legalise the use and beneficiation of Cannabis for private use. The cases before the ‘Concourt’ did not cover the commercialisation of Cannabis or hemp leaving a gaping whole in the legislative framework surrounding Cannabis in South Africa. Our government has in turn chosen to ignore these crucial aspects of regulating the Cannabis industry, somehow hoping it won’t come up? The Kafka-esque ‘Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill’ currently doing the rounds has been drawn up by people who do not understand the plant, its uses and the unique needs and advantages of the plant in the South African context. Hemp needs to be classed as an agricultural product and regulated to the same degree as the wine or tobacco industries. Before the law changed, South Africa was the third largest producer and consumer of Cannabis in the world. Let’s continue to overthrow the racist laws underpinning the failed ‘War on Drugs’ and properly empower our rural communities through the hemp and cannabis industries. Let’s build on the tremendous advantages we already enjoy in relation to this plant – the tourism, industrial and medical potential of Cannabis is unrivalled!



Furthermore, please stop equating Cannabis with alcohol – this is a logical fallacy that continues to vilify a good while edifying a harm. Cannabis can be turned into incredible protein rich dietary supplements, building material, plastics, clothing, textiles and effing rocket-ships if you are that way inclined. It can replace the oil and gas industries with clean energy and non-extractive technologies that rejuvenate the soil. Much like the climate change catastrophe we are lurching into as a result of the Anthropocene and our unwillingness to acknowledge the obvious, we are deliberately ignoring the vast benefits Cannabis already offers us in return for Industries that are rapidly destroying our planet. Yet I know the green revolution is here, since the economic imperatives of hemp can no longer be ignored – an informed  society will demand the implementation of an inclusive hemp revolution that will bring generational wealth to our impoverished rural areas. It has begun and I am delighted by our flourishing future. 

First Cannabis Myth

The first and most harmful myth about cannabis is that it makes the user ‘High’ or ‘Stoned’. This is the same as saying alcohol makes the user Drunk and calling all drinkers ‘Drunkards’. Although these two terms describe some of the effects some users feel some of the time, this is by no means prescriptive or useful as a catchall phrase. I have been searching my own cannabis endowed brain for a better approximation of the effects of Cannabinoids on my endocannabinoid system (Google it folks) and the closest adjective I can find is ‘Enlightened’. Bear with me…I don’t mean I am now some kind of Buddhist seer, but rather that when I use cannabis, in a very real sense time slows down for me.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my thirties, and although my realities and outcomes were much milder than those experienced by many blessed with this condition, it emphatically explained why I had been using Cannabis as medicine my entire adult life. The Psychologist as much as said so, but all he could legally prescribe for me was Ritalin, Adderal or some other bitter little pill. Since then I have been growing my own medicine, which has miraculously been legal for nearly four years in SA. I have managed to transform other areas of my life and kicked a few bad habits into touch. I firmly believe these life choices have been closely tied to the fact that my ‘Drug Habit’ has been normalised through corrective legal intervention and I have been able to exercise the freedom to choose the medicine that works best for me. I rely on edibles and therefore don't suffer the potential harm that smoking cannabis may bring, though the evidence in this regard is scant.

Cannabis is not a cure-all and it is not suitable for everyone, but there is much hype about the fact that CBD is the ‘good’ cannabinoid and THC the bad one. In fact, the healthiest way to consume the plant is also the easiest and oldest. I like to bake with whole dried flowers (thus benefiting from more than a hundred different cannabinoids) and the effects are marvelous. Contrary to popular wisdom, cannabis helps me concentrate more intensely and effectively than anything else on the planet. Back to my analogy of slowing down time – it helps me filter out the ‘noise’ of the outside world and really drill down into the detail of what’s on my mind. I treat my mind as an ally and allow it to do its thing – mostly to good effect. We have been so conditioned to think in terms of right and wrong and finding the right answer, that we rarely allow ourselves the luxury of just thinking. The mind has a way of working out its own trash if you let it.

I feel comfortable writing about my experience with the plant, because I really believe many people can benefit from its incredible healing properties. We are conditioned to think of Cannabis users as  losers or some couch-locked teenagers addicted to Playstation, whereas the reality is far more bountiful and all embracing. I guarantee you if you are in a gathering of a 100 people anywhere in South Africa, then at least 20 have used Cannabis in its myriad forms at least once in the last year. More than likely they will be the more relaxed and contemplative members of society. Many more will try it and come to benefit from its uses once we break the weird taboos we have cultivated against this miracle plant. South Africa is currently the third largest grower of Cannabis in the world with up to a million previously illicit small-scale farmers dotted around this magic country of ours. Seek them out and empower them as much as you can and let’s turn barren land into fields of green. The knowledge and willpower is there, let’s give them impetus. I will continue doing my little bit, but encourage more people to come out from behind the green veil and explore this bountiful medicine themselves.

The Knowledge Revolution

With all the upheaval and terror of viruses and racism assailing us on an hourly basis, it becomes easy to lose all hope. A little macro perspective on current affairs shows a radical shift is happening in how we live, work and play. One of the unintended consequences of the Covid-19 Pandemic has been the revolution in our education system and how we think about learning. Much like what happened to fax machines when the internet became pervasive, the global education system has been creaking under a Victorian era paradigm of Top-Down learning and listen to your Master if you want to get anywhere in life. The fact that the Master was often a low-grade psycho with a penchant for bullying children never seemed to change matters. Do what you’re told! Face the front and wipe that smirk off your face! Not the most conducive vibe for learning to think.

Well all of a sudden due to the ‘twin evils’ of Google and YouTube we are able to access all knowledge in the history of the universe in whatever palatable format you like – video, audio or the written word and for free – with the obvious proviso that you need access to the internet. Since most South Africans are in the process of acquiring smartphones and free internet access is becoming pervasive, it is not unrealistic to assume that the next generation will be far more educated than the current one. The rising tide of knowledge is sure to lift all out of abject poverty and ignorance. For too long access to education has belonged to the connected few, but much like Guttenberg’s Printing Press of 1440 – the powerful are losing control of the narrative in the 21^st century. The days of absolute truth are behind us, but this doesn’t mean (as the ‘Fake News’ crew would have it) that you can believe whatever fits your bigoted paradigm. Rather it will come to mean that much like scientific discovery, the truth is more nuanced than a thing that can be weighed according the narrow parameters of right and wrong.

Not only are the Millenials and those who follow getting access to all information without the diktak of a curriculum only – curated to fit the dogma of the day – but they are also learning to think in entirely different ways. No longer are we forced to learn our times tables under the strictures of rote learning and the whip, but we are encouraged to view numbers as the building blocks of the universe, if not by our teachers and parents, than by our contemporaries and the array of geniuses we can find online. There are also an array of free Qualifications which will bolster your knowledge and your CV.

This is a clarion call to all thinkers, young and old. Question everything, but mostly your own assumptions. Want to know about George Floyd – read up in Wikipedia about US Slavery, The US Civil War, Rosa Parks, The Civil Rights Movement, the Rodney King riots etc…. don’t choose your sources or rely on Fox News, as they can make white seem black and turn day into night. Think for yourself and think critically. The revolution starts with each of us deciding our mind is sacred ground and we get to curate the narrative of our lives. Head always toward the light.

Working from home is the new normal. Learning from home is too. Never stop searching for truth, but never hang your hat on your definition of it. Being wrong is the best way to learn. Admitting you were wrong takes wisdom and maturity. We are all wrong about a lot of things, mostly because we cannot know all things. This is OK. Everyone is a specialist at something. If you are looking for work and have access to a computer, there are multiple ways to earn good money online and not just from taking your clothes off. Develop a passion or two and become the best at what you do and the world will beat a path to your door. I know this all sounds very preachy and ‘We are the World’ but the revolution is happening and we have the opportunity to jump onboard. Better still, try and help those who have less access to technology understand the benefits and uses of knowledge work – the robots are coming and will always be better at digging ditches and washing windows – let’s not continue to define these jobs as meaningful work.

Another revolution in the way we live is happening at the same time. This is called the Circular economy – google it – and this fits in perfectly with the revolution in our access to knowledge and work opportunities. Combine these and we have a recipe for economic prosperity. The final piece in this puzzle of prosperity that is particularly pertinent to SA is the hemp revolution - but that is for another time. Times of great upheaval lead to monumental change.