Today’s IC Hard Talk series will be on Legalization of Marijuana in Mauritius! For those who think Marijuana is the name of a girl I know then no! Marijuana is the thing that we Mauritian often call “mass” or “gandia” (written as ganja). It is illegal in Mauritius and we shall discuss whether this thing should be legalized or not.
The Hard Talk series started with the Legalization of sodomy in Mauritius and which went for a very long debate. Now its time for the second part of the series and its about Marijuana! So before I ask you the very important question whether we should legalize it or not, lets first have a brief insight about the famous ganja.
Marijuana most commonly called Gandia in Mauritius is in fact a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol also called THC for short. THC is the chemical that give the ‘high’ sensation when someone take in Marijuana.
THC acts upon specific sites in the brain, called cannabinoid receptors, kicking off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the “high” that users experience when they smoke marijuana. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid receptors; others have few or none. The highest density of cannabinoid receptors are found in parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thoughts, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement.
Source: Herkenham M, Lynn A, Little MD, et al. Cannabinoid receptor localization in the brain. Proc Natl Acad Sci, USA 87(5):1932–1936, 1990.
Ok. We agree Marijuana is a drug. It is a drug just like cigarette and alcohol are! Now did you know that marijuana has less carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emission than tobacco?? Check these articles here and here. In Mauritius Marijuana is illegal while cigarettes are sold as breads in all shops and alcoholic drinks continues to rock the body of the alcothirsties(Term not yet in dictionary)! Some past studies stated that Marijuana is bad for health! Yes it is! It is bad for health in the same way that if you drink too much alcoholic drinks it is bad too. But here are some FACTS that recent studies have shown:
- Marijuana smokers smoke LESS than tobacco ones! If a tobacco smoker can smoke upto 10 cigarretes per day, a marijuana smoker can smoke only one in one to three days! You can conclude…
- Most marijuana smokers smoke the bud of the plant and not exactly the leaves. (Depend which type the person get). It is about 33% less toxic than tobacco smokes!
- Tobacco is reputed for lung cancer. Not Marijuana officially!
- Cannabis is also radically different from tobacco in that it does not contain nicotine and is not addictive. The psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, THC, has been accused of causing brain and genetic damage, but these studies have all been disproven.
It is also to be noted that Marijuana is used in many religions and even in India which certain festivals are celebrated with it. Selven wrote an interesting article about Marijuana last month about how it is used by patients of epilepsy. Read it here.
So we come back to our discussion. Marijuana is a drug yes. Any drug which is consumed excessively can be dangerous for health. The same way that alcoholic drinks and cigarretes can be very bad for health. Marijuana can be prohibited by some religion while some other religions do not say anything against it. Some religions even use it.
Marijuana is classified as a light drug. So the question arises. Should it be legalized in Mauritius? If tobaco is sold like breads in Mauritius then why is Ganja like a hard core criminal? Why do people who want to consume Ganja have to get it by the BLACK MEANS and thus perform illegal activities? Do you think that by legalizing Ganja, it will make more people to smoke it? And do you think that people who smoke it are wrong to do it and why? Don’t you think it will be good if the government legalize it to be used with moderation for medicinal purposes?
Disclaimer: I do not smoke Marijuana nor do I possess any of it lol. But I perfectly respect those people who do consume it as long as they dont create a fuss in the society and till now I dont know any guy around who have consume it and make a mess around. It is to be noted that alcohol is much more a stigma to society than marijuana for those who are thinking to use this argument 
Your opinion? Lets discuss.
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kenzo
I luv smking man! I’l never stp! Koz i love zat shit,,, i say legalize it,, bt its a dream,,koz zis fucking ((GOV))) wil neva do zis.. Koz they r making 2much mney wis al these cases… Mwa mem mo ena 1kase pu mass..bt i lv smking.. Lets smk***pis r 2 to ban problem man!! Enjoy…it I WANT IT TO BE LEGALIZE!!!
jk
man made whiskey, god made pot, question is who do u trust. don’t know bout u, but i got a joint waiting for me.
buy cannabis seeds
It should not be legalized.
1 if it is legal more people should smoke.
2 marijuana is proven badass drugs getaway
3 not all people know what they are doing, so the drug control is mandatory
4 what a reason is “when i smoke weed i smoke less” Cigarette, (it sounds like: if i shoot heroin i eat less sweets)
3 It is a proven psychotic getaway drug (some people are pliable to become mad)
IF SOMETHING IS BAD IT SHOULD BE BANNED.
Statistics are the reason marijuana is ilegal. (not your personal statistics- observations )
Roc
how come alcohol is legal then?why not make it illegal also.
dutchman
It should be liegalized.
1 this argument has been proven wrong in each and every country that has taken a liberal stance towards cannabis
2 what the heck does that mean ?
3 if you make drug illegal, you actually don’t control it. Better legalize it, and control it.
4 not sure where you read that…
3 (or 5??) again this getaway thingy.. what’s up with that??
WHO ARE YOU TO SAY WHAT IS “BAD” WHEN CLEARLY DISPLAYING SUCH AN MISINFORMED JUDGEMENT??
Show your “stat’s”, I have plenty to give you if you want… start here: http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/drug-facts/marijuana-facts
marijuana reviews
What are the penalty for having a small amount of mj in Mauritius. Just a small amount for personal use.
mr karma
wai mo si dn getto vuillmin ey lascar si consomer
rasta 2 ciT vuillemin
we only smoke.we never disturb anyone,we also we are human!in this country every religion got there rights but only rastas……..
we all know that not only rastas consume this but why its only us that is penalise.
all communities should fight 4 this.we here in vuillemin we r all ready to fight 4 it.what we need is support!!!!!!!!!
jahba
mo ti envie cone qui illegal dans marijuana nu dans ene pays libre mais nu paye les pots casser pou tou sa banne dimoune qui incompetent la. Nous nu bizin accepter tou la loi qui gouvenrment metter p fair bel bel pub lor arret boir arret fime cigarette mais li vender mem.
Mo adresse la parole a sa dimoune qui fer la loi la li garde so la loi pou li nous nous pou continuer fime nu gandia li gete qui action li ena pou prend.Li pas possibe qui ou paye tax lor tout zafair nous lepep nous bizin accepter tout c qui zotte dir ,NOU LIBRE ET NOU POU CONTINUE SMOKING ZAMAL DANS LE DROIT NU FIMER MAIS PAS TRAFFIQUANT
sheeraj
for me i’ll say the type of marijuana in mauritius is sativa and there’s a very small amount of thc in sativa. Long ago people were using marijuana sativa for textile till now they are using it for his hemp that the best in the world still and it is not smokable if u compare a sativa to a white widow or afgan kush it’s a world difference so all i mean is sativa is use to make hemp;oil,medical purpose,bag,rope ..lots of thing is made with and in mauritius the type of marijuana is sativa if you compare a 1 bottle of phoenix beer to a joint of sativa, the beer is better. every smoker will say that and the thing is if you are caught with a joint of sativa you go to jail and in europe people are allowed to carry 3g of marijuana still mauritius gov is not good all people must start thinking now every1 have education now not like before every person must say something every1 have the right
mr blue
hello all,
I will lay a few points that reffect my opinion:
Mauritius sadely has developped into a big mess!
1) Heroin and aids proliferating at a rate way beyond reasonable!(one of the worst figures in the world per capita)
Should the government decide they want to help the people they actually can, wery easily by making weed legal.
It makes sense that the majority of people looking for some kind of stress relief after a hard day at work would opt for a free joint off the plant in their own garden rather than wasting there money into crap street weed.
By doing so you reduce the chances of smokers being proposed other harder drugs by a street dealer aswell as it would be stupid to pay for something you can get for free.
This would also have the benefit of eradicating the dealing business, a relief for all.
Take a 19yrs old masson or boat skipper earning a meager 7000rupees per month for an example. He probably has 1000rupees only from his budget that he will put towards his pleasures. With the crap weed available due to repression, he will eventually start thinking about buying heroin instead as at least this way he gets a flash! It is sad but happens very often.
If this 19year old boy could have had a ganja plant in his garden he would never have come across the heroin dealer. And if proposed we would not want to wast his money on a “nissa” when he has some growing for free in his garden.
Furthermore instead of even spending that approximate 1000rupees in weed or heroin or whaterver drug for that matter, he would find himself with an extra 1000rupees from his budget that he could spend in a more benefictial way to the economy. Instead he might be able to buy a pair of shoes or a small radio for example.
The shoes seller in turn can use this extra profit from selling this pair of shoes that would not have benn sold without the saving of 1000rupees discussed above and spend it buying a bol of ‘mine frit’
This would generate the economy in a much more efficient way than it is now.
The example above reflect the logic of the “broken window fallacy” by the economist Hazlit (google it, it is very interesting)
2) Domestic violence, rape, pedofile acts and attrocious murders; we hear and read about them so often now that many people are becoming insensitive to this problem as it is so recurent people start thinking it may be normal! all which have a common factor at 99% of occurences and that is alcohol !
I am sure the young kid who sees his father drunk, excited and agressive by alcohol hitting on his mother, would have much prefered seeing daddy chilling on the couch with a joint perhaps even asking for a glace a juice to his son
Tolerance on weed would have improved this senario.
The 6 yr old girl screaming under the pain as her drunk uncle is penetrating her would have been better off if he was smoking some nice afghan kush that day instead of that bottle of goodwill ruhm!
He would’ve been talking about rainbows and flowers instead he raped his niece
Examples like this happen almost daily, this means our government could help a family a day avoiding them such calamities without even getting out of office or spending a dime! This appears tempting…
3) Public Health – Diabetes, I have heard on the radio more than 50% of our population is affected?! This is insanely high if correct.
Alcohol contributes enormously to diabetes whereas marijuanna will help prevent and fight it !
Marijuanna also helps attenuate and cure asma, glaucoma, tuberculosis, anorexia, menstrual pains for ladies, pain management and helps cancer patients big time and has many other benefic side effects that are not mentionned often enough.
It seems to me the ministry of health could do with some savings in that department!
Hospitals would be less busy if the number of diabetes patients and other patients could reduce. This in turn would improve the quality of the service provided by hospital workers as they would not be as overworked as they are currently.
Again the broken window falacy theory can be applied here.
4) Revenue and income.
The government could if they had the best interest of the nation really at heart turn things around and stop wasting public funds by substituting the efforts on marijuanna repression and shifting them towards heroin and brown sugar repression.
This would improve the situation on heroin and needle sharing that enitably preads aids.
After that comes an opportunity, one where Mauritius can make money.
All that needs to be done is legalise and control plantations.
Tax the marijuanna farmer the same way a shop owner would be taxed.
This is extra legal money.
Many tourists in expensive hotels would be delighted to walk out of the cigar bar and walk into the Ganja bar.
Many tourists would start coming to mauritius just because of that.
At the begining I gave an example where a 19yr old boy would save 1000rupees…
If the government plays the game well and come to reason they can eradicate the dealing business in a few simple strokes
The enormous of amount of money people cumulatively spend to dealers that gets out of our economy would constantly be reintroduced in the economy as suggested by the broken window fallacy, which in my view sums it up pretty well.
The application of the points I discussed above would without any doubt improve the standard of living and quality of life of all our nation and make our Mauritius a better place to live for everyone.
So Legalise it and I will advertise it
Peace,
mr blue
Tourist
Mr Blue you make some very valid points friend, a group of guys here in South Africa managed to find some loopholes in our countries laws and opened a cannabis coffee shop on the net called 4 Brothers. it was rather successful for a couple of months and then there was far too much publicity and the whole thing got shut down in the early months of 2011, with none of the founders facing time in prison. they did well over the months they were open, i reckon that if someone could follow the process that they took, but do it in Mauritius then something might come of it. these guys were very close to making a huge difference with these specific laws in our country, and if you wanted something to happen in your country this might be the best way to go about it. South Africa and Mauritius have quiet a close connection, after all we import 8.5% of Mauritius’ goods on average annually. if you could legalise it there on a smaller scale, maybe we could follow on a larger one…
follow:
http://www.belowthelion.co.za/a-spliff-a-word-with-4-brothers-an-online-coffeeshop-for-south-africans/
for more info on the 4 brothers saga