Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 08:06:46 +0000 (GMT)
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?j=20t?= <nopossesion1-AT-yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: FREEING  THE  WEED ?


The UK government has announced that it "intends" to recommend the
downgrading of cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug. 

This would mean possession of it would be treated as is possession of
steroids and diazepam(which can be obtained legally) - making it unlikely
to be punished by prison. 

This would not amount to legalisation as such, and in practice has
already been the policy of police in South London.

Now, this may happen and it may not... 

What difference could it make? 

Well, if it would mean less people being locked up in hellish UK jails for
enjoying themselves with the safest drug known to humanity - great! 

And if people with MS and other conditions can now use an effective
medicine without the cops stepping in - about time! 

But in wider social terms?

For many people "free the weed" has been seen as a "radical" and
"political" slogan. There is an element of truth in this, as in so much
else. 

However, *if* this were to become a partial reality (in terms of the state
deeming it "legal" or "illegal" - and the state's right to make such
decisions over us, and to exist as an expression of ruling class power has
*never* been challenged by this demand over cannabis) we will see that it
*isn't* such a radical slogan.

Cannabis will continue to be a commodity sold with a view to profit, as is
everything else under capitalism (black market or legalised and directly
taxed it's still produced for the *market*) and so could hardly be said to
have been "freed". 

Social relations will in essence no more be changed even by complete
legalisation than they were in the US with the end of Prohibition on
alcohol. And Holland has hardly become "Free" through its
"toleration" of cannabis.

The UK government may have considered the view that with the highest use
of cannabis in Europe, alongside the most draconian punishments, this move
may defuse a potential source of opposition to the state and to the status
quo.

Nothing will change in essence until we have Freed *everything* to use as
we decide, according to our self-defined needs, and freed ourselves. 

This is something we mustn't lose sight of due to another (potential)
reshuffling of a set of laws - they are always *their* laws, not ours.

Free Humanity!

www.worldsocialism.org 


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