I WANT to draw to a close this column’s discussion of marijuana and weed zones by trying to be honest about one of the key risks posed by legalisation. It is this risk which pushes my thinking toward zones rather than full legalisation, even though I am not against the decriminalisation of the possession of small amounts of the plant.

A memory from Northern California, San Francisco, I think does a good job of portraying my unease about broad legalisation.
A few work colleagues who had grown to be my friends once decided to plan a trip to San Francisco, and California-lover that I am, I was enthusiastic about tagging along. While there, a local friend of ours showed us the city’s various and starkly different bar scenes, but we did eventually become bored. That’s when the member of the group that could legally obtain marijuana in the State did so, and began to smoke the herb.

Before we could walk two blocks, we were approached by someone offering to sell us cocaine. That, readers, is the simple reason I can’t support full legalisation. We had passed that same drug dealer before, and he had said nothing to us; but the moment someone in our group was smoking weed, he perceived us as customers, and was willing to take the risk of even walking up to us to offer his wares.

Marijuana, for one reason or another, is strongly linked with other much more dangerous drugs. On the one hand, this is said to be because, as a psychoactive drug, it opens users up to the appeal of similar mental stimulants, rendering them vulnerable to the advances of that cocaine dealer.

This, in turn, acts as a signalling device to him that his business is either accepted or desired, and as a result makes him willing to attempt to engage in a sale.
Many Guyanese, on a moment’s reflection, must surely be worried that widespread legalisation would act as a titanic signal that Guyana is open for business to those who peddle the harmful, powerfully addictive narcotics that are so dangerous to each of us individually, and our society as a whole. Even further, doesn’t Guyana have a long history of allegations that those more dangerous drugs have had a significant impact on our economy?

If these drugs and the related money have been able to pass through Guyana on its way to destinations like the United States, then that means they are likely to become readily accessible locally. If demand also increases, due to marijuana use, then it is not difficult to see how this could escalate into a serious national drug problem.
It is possible that marijuana use won’t have this effect in our society, but it is a risk many are wisely unwilling to take.

This is why I like the idea of zoning. Rather than widespread change that is difficult to control and hard to reverse, weed zones (small areas in which it is legal to buy, sell, carry and consume marijuana) would act as a kind of test.
The idea came from the special economic zones that have been established in China in an effort to attract investment. The economic incentives in these zones would likely have been difficult to enact nationally, and perhaps had unintended consequences, but zoning has helped the country benefit from them while controlling their side effects.

Further, if we see that the activity in weed zones is leading to marked increases in the use of more dangerous narcotics, increases in crime and the presence of a significant, related underground economy, we can simply shut the zones and return to the situation as it was before.

Legalisation, on the other hand, would have to incorporate at minimum a period in which those possessing the plant would have an opportunity to turn it in, as well as a widespread crackdown on dealers countrywide, rather than merely closing the enterprises in a specific, small location as in a zone.

Finally, as the oil economy grows local wealth, let us not ignore the experience of wealthy countries like Singapore, which have extremely strict anti-narcotics laws. Without zoning, it is all too easy to see that our wealth could be sucked into spending on dangerous narcotics; something the Singaporeans are certainly worried about. Zones allow us to control the extent and effects of marijuana activity; and control is critical.