GONE are the days when cannabis was only smoked by longhaired, peace-loving hippies, who lived in communes and practised free sex. Today, a whole new generation has adopted the habit of getting ‘high’ on marijuana, from teenagers, to businessmen and even teachers.
With the number of cannabis smokers continually on the rise, Holland was the first European country to change its perception on the soft drug by legalising personal possession and smoking of cannabis. Britain followed suit this week, relaxing the classification of cannabis from a class B drug to class C. This allows people to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use only.
Here in Cyprus, however, the laws regarding cannabis are far from relaxed, with police showing zero-tolerance. Jail sentences are often handed out for possession of small amounts of marijuana, and every week, more and more people are arrested for using the illegal substance.
Prominent lawyer and former DISY deputy Eleni Vrahimi was the first woman to suggest the decriminalisation of cannabis on the island. However, her suggestion, made in February 2001, was not met favourably by the government and rejected by most as radical and overly liberal.
Three years on, Vrahimi stands by her arguments. “First of all cannabis is a light narcotic,” she told the Sunday Mail this week. “It is not harmful compared to the hard narcotics such as crack and heroin. My main reasons for suggesting cannabis be legalised were to monitor who was smoking it and save them from purchasing it illegally at astronomical prices from dealers.
“These drug pushers often give young people cannabis to smoke and then lead them onto to harder, more harmful drugs such as heroin.”
Vrahimi said that when she had made the suggestion, some people had supported her and some were against. “Those against said decriminalisation of the drug in other countries such as Holland had not been successful. However, I believe that in Cyprus we could have results, as we are a small country,” she stressed.
“My objective was to get these youngsters to avoid meddling with and becoming addicted to harder drugs.”
But a doctor from the Kenthea drug rehabilitation centre in Larnaca disagreed with suggestions that marijuana can be considered ‘safe’. Dr George Poyiadjis said cannabis was a much more complicated drug than cigarettes, and outlined the dangers and long-term effects it could have on a regular smoker.
“It does contain more carcinogenics than cigarettes and it is a psychodelic drug which could put people in danger when carrying out daily chores,” he said, adding the long-term effects of cannabis had been proved to dull people’s motivation.
“Research has shown that smoking cannabis can effect fertility in men, while pregnant women who smoke marijuana often give birth to babies who are relatively underweight.”
“But the most dangerous and worrying side-effect of cannabis is that it influences people’s moods and distorts their perception of time and space.”
Poyiadjis said while cannabis was not physically addictive, it is psychologically addictive. “The only illegal drug that the body becomes dependant on is heroin. However, long-term use of marijuana causes psychological addiction which is the most difficult addiction to overcome.”
“We have had people come to Kenthea who want to stop smoking cannabis, but our biggest problem today is that people are using many drugs concurrently,” said Poyiadjis. He would not say that anyone smoking cannabis would eventually cross the line into harder drugs, but did say that nearly all heroin addicts had smoked marijuana.
Kenthea conducted a study between February and March 2003 that revealed that one out of five Cypriots between the ages of 15 and 65 had at some point in their life tried smoking cannabis. Ten per cent of them said they had used the drug within the last year while nine per cent admitted to having smoked it within the last 30 days.
Poyiadjis disagrees with Britain’s recent reclassification of cannabis.
“My opinion is that it is wrong to relax the law and allow people to smoke a drug that is by no means harmless. I respect that marijuana is not as harmful as crack and does not lead youngsters to crime to support their habit. However, if a youngster in Cyprus is to smoke every day, they will need £10 a day, which is £300 every month. Where will they get the money?” he asked.
“In Holland they have had more crime against property since their decriminalisation of cannabis,” he added.
But Poyiadjis believes the reason why Europe is taking a more relaxed approach towards cannabis is because of the increasing number of people using dangerous crack cocaine and addictive heroin.
“Police in Cyprus have become more lenient when they arrest people for possession of cannabis. The prison sentences are less.
“But I do not believe that the law will change in Cyprus, and cannabis, although not as harmful as heroin, is by no means safe.”
But attitudes towards the drug have changed. The smoking of cannabis is no longer quite the taboo it used to be, even in a small, conservative society such as Cyprus.
One daily cannabis smoker spoke openly to the Sunday Mail about his ‘dope’ habit and why he refuses to give it up.
“I smoked my first joint when I was 19 years old at University. We were sitting around and other people were smoking, so when they passed the bud to me, I just joined in,” said the actor/musician.
Is he of getting caught by police? “No. I used to be but I’m not any more.”
He admitted that cannabis affected his judgment and personality.
“Of course it’s going to affect my judgment but only to a certain degree. I think what clothes you wear affect you,” he added.
“Being a daily smoker I don’t feel the affects of smoking like I used to. I used to get the giggles and the munchies (wanting to eat after smoking) when I first started smoking. Now it relaxes me,” he said, lighting up his evening joint.
“I also believe that smoking cannabis is less harmful for you than drinking alcohol. But the funny thing is that even though alcohol is also classed as a drug, it is legal and you can walk into a restaurant and buy it as easily as you can diapers in a supermarket.”
He was sceptical that legalisation would encourage many more people to smoke. “Some might try cannabis who wouldn’t have dreamed of it because it is illegal.
“But I think people would be better off smoking a few marijuana cigarettes at the weekend instead of going out and drinking poisonous alcohol.
“I am aware that there are dangers to smoking cannabis, that it contains carcinogenic substances, it has some long-term health affects, but it’s only been proven harmful to the same degree as red meat.”
Despite his own feelings on cannabis, he said he wouldn’t offer anyone else the soft drug. “It is a behaviour habit. It’s illegal, so I wouldn’t want to offer it to anyone else. I would never push it. I enjoy smoking, but that doesn’t mean everyone should. People make their own choices and I choose not to be an instigator.”
And despite police efforts to battle cannabis, the smoker insisted it was easy to find weed in Cyprus.
“I know a lot of people who smoke cannabis. Teachers and professional business people. It does not affect their ability to wake up in the morning and function at work,” he said.
Nevertheless, police insisted this week they would continued to uphold the law and arrest people found with small quantities of cannabis in order to catch the big fish who are dealing the drug.
But despite police efforts, the number of people smoking cannabis has quadrupled in the past four years according to the Kenthea survey.
So does this mean C
yprus should follow in Britain’s footsteps and concentrate on fighting highly addictive narcotics such as crack, cocaine and heroin and decriminalise the soft drug cannabis?
Smokers and liberal thinkers in Cyprus believe legalisation is the way forward in our ever-changing modern world. Yet the government feels that decriminalisation would be admitting defeat. But are the police fighting a losing battle, thinking cannabis use can be lessened or eliminated? Is it possible that the war on drugs has been lost?
