If you go for a walk in Oslo on a blue Christmas Eve, you can often smell a sweet scent wafting through the streets. It can be when you stroll around Grünerløkka, go for an evening walk on Aker Brygge or cross one of the city’s parks. It is important to acknowledge this reality: Now there are many people who enjoy the summer evening with a joint. The cannabis culture is already here, and it’s been here for a while. To claim otherwise is a gross denial of reality. It is illegal, but that has not stopped 1 in 4 Norwegians from trying or 200,000 Norwegians from using cannabis in the past year. Through films and TV series, cannabis has been completely rendered harmless. We are served the American cannabis culture, where smoking a joint is presented as the most natural thing in the whole world. This is in stark contrast to what Norwegian youth are told by police officers on school visits, parents who want to preach what they believe is the best for their children, and social debaters and politicians who hold to an outdated understanding of reality. Abid Raja deserves praise for having started this debate and thus prepared himself for the fight. It’s good to hear that he hasn’t been slammed as much as he was prepared for. The debate about cannabis and drug use has at times been characterized by strong emotions and it has been easy to be branded as frivolous even if one argues objectively and neatly. The scary message that cannabis use is dangerous and easily leads to violence, health problems and ruined lives is understood by a large proportion of the population. Such a zero vision with the aim of continuing with bans, and the threat of fines and searches should have the effect of scaring people from taking it. Fortunately, several politicians have realized that it is a hopeless and harmful project. It is also important to emphasize that cannabis is not completely harmless. It can cause mental health problems and lead to a low quality of life. But the most dangerous thing about smoking weed today is the legislation and the consequences the criminal lines can inflict on you. We are doing ourselves – and not least our youth – a disservice by continuing to call for a ban. Cannabis is a billion dollar industry. Today, it is exclusively criminal circles that benefit from this. South American drug cartels conduct trade that extends via the mafia in Europe and all the way to Grünerløkka. Even if it is other drugs that are their big golden cow, cannabis is still something that the big mafia organizations make an extremely large amount of money from. Hash from Afghanistan helps finance terrorist organizations in the Middle East and other shady businesses. Safer use for young people. The biggest difference when the cannabis trade enters into orderly forms is that its use becomes safer. Today, the cannabis economy is completely unregulated. There is of course no age limit and there is no safe and public quality control like we have for food and legal drugs. You don’t know if the hash you get contains soil, rubbish or even worse: more dangerous narcotics. Cannabis can lead to an increased quality of life. Research shows that medical cannabis is a real medical alternative for pain relief, and should be made available in Norwegian pharmacies on prescription. The stigma attached to the drug must be removed so that more people can freely ask their doctor if it is the right treatment for them. The ban on cannabis is racist. The prohibition of cannabis has its roots in American racism: it was primarily used as a weapon against the black population of the United States to stifle African-American culture. There’s a reason it’s called “jazz tobacco”: It was black jazz musicians who used it the most, and prohibition made it legitimate to persecute them. It is also like this in Norway to this day. The risk of being arrested for using cannabis is minimal if you are white and live on the western edge of Oslo, but increases tremendously if you are dark-skinned and live on the eastern edge. The ban thus contributes to criminalizing young people with a minority background the hardest. The battle against cannabis is already lost. If you want to get drunk at nine o’clock on a Friday night, it’s easier to get hold of a joint than a bottle of wine. Most people do not have a “wine guy” – they can buy wine at the Pole. The need for a friend who can deliver illegal wine to the door is low. For cannabis, the goods are often just a Snapchat message away. In the same way that work is currently being done to ensure that Norwegians have a restrictive use and a positive culture linked to life-threatening drugs such as beer, wine and spirits, we can work for the same with regard to the use of cannabis. But then it cannot continue to be illegal to use and sell the drug. Saying yes to the regulation of cannabis does not prevent us from continuing to research and find out how cannabis use affects people and society, and give good advice accordingly. Cannabis culture is not exactly high culture, and myths and bad attitudes abound. By regulating cannabis, we can influence an unhealthy “stoner culture” to a greater extent. It is about recognizing that people already use cannabis, and that they deserve good and correct information about how it can be used as safely as possible.
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Norwegians already inhale – Statement
