Ganjanomics: Depriving the Deprived

By Dr. Dineth Bandara

The Ganja Lobby seems to have resorted to guerrilla marketing, as it were. This lobby came into being, pretending to be the saviour of the deprived, and accosted the President at a forum that was meant to be an open discussion with the people of Thanamalwila, of their real problems. Ganja, as one would imagine, would be the least of the problems of these hapless people who are deprived of water, access to finance, housing as well as protection from all manner of wildlife.

This area also has a high rate of suicides. Promoting a substance that has proven to increase serious mental illnesses and social issues that promote suicide in this particular area, shows nothing but the ruthlessly manipulative nature of this lobby. It will be laughing all the way to the bank, trampling over the disadvantaged populations, in the event their guliya, is swallowed by the government.

It seems that the depths into which the ganja lobby would lower itself into, to obtain its nefarious goals, have no end. It uses fictitious economic arguments, fictitious religious arguments (even dragging in the Buddha as one of its endorsers) as well fictitious socio-cultural arguments. This is a reflection of their belief that one can fool some people for some time. They are after the policy-makers. All they need is to fool some of them, for a very short period of time, to get what they want.

We can rest assured that the President will not be one of those who will fall for such mumbo-jumbo. After all, such a dependence-causing substance cannot be given any freedom in the middle of a well-publicized and well-received battle against the social and economic harms of drug use, launched by him, to the relief of many.

It is clear as daylight what they are spending time, effort, energy and presumably other resources is for. This vicious lobby is seeking to get this psychoactive substance, which is proven to cause widespread health, social and economic harms including substantial increases in road accidents, and reductions in IQ of adolescents, legalized for use. This substance then would be unleashed on a population that is already battered by the effects of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, accidents, domestic violence and suicide, which is simply unconscionable.

A lot of hot and malodorous air has been blown on the purported economic benefits of growing ganja for exports. Such is the false hype that some believe that it can bring more income than the export of tea!

One only has to glance through the basic facts about the international ganja trade to see that all the large multinational ganja companies in the world has suffered billion-dollar losses in 2020. It is simply because of an excess supply of ganja and the lack of demand for ganja products around the world. Lured by the propaganda, many countries have already fallen into the trap of allowing ganja cultivation. This has quadrupled supplies since 2018 which has resulted in the collapse of prices and caused enormous losses to the ganja growers.

They are now simply eyeing new markets for their products to recoup the losses. Countries such as ours, with chronic cash problems and gullible policy-makers and officials, that are also replete with uninformed groups that are easily manipulated to promote ganja, are fertile grounds for such predators.

The fake sales projections of billions of dollars in sales for ganja products in 2020s has been proven to be what it actually is – fake. These projections were used to pump up the share prices of ganja companies, that have also collapsed. These projections are still touted to uninformed policy makers and officials in countries such as ours.

It is also pertinent that the tobacco and alcohol industries have billion-dollar shareholdings in these companies. Therefore, what will happen in the future if these companies are allowed to gain a foothold in Sri Lanka is clear. Initially it will be in the form of “export for foreign exchange”.

They will then gradually work to get concessions in small steps, and before long we will have a five-star market for ganja products in Sri Lanka. These companies will have no option but to do so by hook or by crook, as the ganja market is already saturated in the West. Ganja cigarettes, drinks, chocolates and toffees are already marketed in some countries and are waiting to come to Sri Lanka.

Much fanfare is made by the uninformed or unscrupulous ganja promoters about the recent reclassification of the ganja by the United Nations. This reclassification was nothing but allowing countries to consider allowing medicinal use of ganja products. This is not legalization of ganja for all humanity. This is anyway a moot point in Sri Lanka, as medicinal use of this substance has been allowed in this country for a long time. Therefore, it makes no difference here.

The ganja lobby should not be allowed to misrepresent this technical decision by the United Nations. This reclassification almost did not happen as the voting went 27 in favour with 25 against and one abstention. The reclassification requires that the chemicals in ganja, if used for medicinal purposes, should be as strictly controlled as opioid drugs such as morphine and pethidine. This, by no stretch of imagination, can be touted as a “legalization” of ganja.

If these ganja companies are given even the slightest chance, they will start growing the high yielding varieties in Sri Lanka which can have more than 20 times the addictive chemicals compared to local varieties. There will be nothing desheeya or sanskruthika about it. Just imagine what can happen if just 5% of such a harvest leaks to the population.

The current problems we face in trying to enforce the laws on ganja and other illegal drugs does not bode well in a scenario where ganja is legally grown for “export”. Sri Lanka being Sri Lanka, ganja containing high levels psychoactive chemicals will almost certainly leak to the local market. The people of Thanamalwila will not only become labourers in their own lands, but will also be made to become ganja junkies with those in other parts of the country.

The Prime Minister, in his wisdom, made an unequivocal statement in Parliament last year that he will not let this to happen to Sri Lanka. It was hoped that it would put to end the relentless push of the ganja lobby.

It now appears that this cynical lobby is trying to leverage the single-minded determination of the President to improve the lives of the downtrodden and deprived, but deserving people who live in this country, to its advantage. This should not be allowed, and the hyaenas must be chased away. There should be no leeway given to cold blooded lobbies to obtain legal concessions and thousands of acres of land, to suck the economy of Sri Lanka and the well-being of its people dry.