WALKING one lazy Sunday along the famous Venice Beach boardwalk, in Los Angeles, I once stumbled across a rather comical store called: “The Weed Doctor.” Its sheepishly smiling employees were wearing bright green jumpsuits, the obligatory Caucasian guy with his hair in dreadlocks standing at the fore to welcome customers. For a moment I was taken back at how brazenly they seemed to be advertising their wares.
What’s more, every surface of the storefront seemed to have been plastered with stickers in the shape of cannabis leaves, giving the store the look of a giant, bright green bush. I couldn’t help but shake my head and laugh–this relaxed attitude was typical of California, and while not always appropriate, there’s something I think we can learn from that highly prosperous state as we debate marijuana legislation.
Californians are very forgiving. They recognize that not everyone has had the same opportunities to succeed, that failure is an important component of success and that everything should thus be taken with a grain of salt. I think much of the public outcry at sentences handed down for marijuana possession comes from the same place within Guyanese. We need to build off of this same sympathy until we have a culture that forgives failure a bit more, and therefore encourages us to be brave enough to innovate.
While we must surely understand that there should be caution about marijuana’s risks, can’t we find a better approach than harsh sentencing? As I mentioned in my previous column, I believe weed zones are an excellent answer to the legalization impasse. Put simply, zones would be four square block areas in economically depressed communities in which it is legal to buy, sell, carry and consume marijuana. This is a fresh innovation I believe we must find the courage to explore.
Last week I listed many direct benefits of such zones, from the scale and ease of taxation to the many jobs it would create. Now I want to list the indirect benefits that are highly likely to stem from this approach, and to do so I believe we need to return to that same lazy Sunday afternoon on the boardwalk of that famous American city.
The Venice boardwalk is renowned for its art and culture displays, from giant murals of impressionist artist, Vincent Van Gough’s finest paintings to reggae and hip-hop musicians performing every few paces. I was particularly impressed by a young violinist who seemed tireless in her passion, for some reason art, and in particular creativity, seem to flow from environments friendly to cannabis. It is my expectation that local weed zones will become artistic havens, producing wonders Guyana’s art community has yet to behold.
Further, it often follows that tourism walks hand-in-hand with art. Surely, there will be a sharp rise in tourism due to those interested in the plant, but as our art scene begins to grow and grow in step, I can already imagine the cumulative effect this will have. Tourists will not only be more likely to purchase our swiftly developing art, they will be likely to spread the word to their friends and family back home, amplifying the word of mouth we benefit from and further increasing tourism.
Finally, I want to turn your attention to a not often discussed but vital point. When we do begin to reap the benefits of oil revenue, and higher paying jobs beckon, won’t there be a significant gap between what our largely uneducated population can offer and what is required? I suspect many foreign citizens, from as close as Trinidad and Tobago, will enter Guyana to fill positions, leaving the masses, who don’t have even CSEC qualifications, out in the cold. Might this not lead to inequality, and as a result crime?
Opportunities to create jobs like those in these weed zones are vital because they provide the type of low skill, high wage jobs that our population will surely crave. This will go a long way toward reducing economic inequality, and therefore lowering the likelihood of the onset of chronic crime in the oil economy.
It may not seem like it at first, but the real benefit weed zones offer is hope for the hopeless. Not even oil can save those with few options, of which there are far too many in Guyana. What’s required is the courage to give these Guyanese hope, the courage to innovate.
