The Drug Store

When I was stationed at Kagnew Station (Asmara, Eritrea, Ethiopia, East Africa) in the 1960’s recreational drugs were legal in that Country. But it was illegal for us, in the United States Military, to buy them. In fact, the downtown Asmara Farmacia was off limits to all US Citizens except for the Peace Corp personnel. This was not imposed by the Ethiopian Government, but by the US Government.

In the Farmacia, one could purchase prescription medicines and narcotic drugs over the counter. Tetracycline (the drug that the Post Hospital would give you if you caught Gonorrhea from the biweekly blanket exchange) was fairly inexpensive. A lid (one ounce) of very high quality (at least that was what I was told) Hashish cost 5 Ethiopian dollars ($2 US dollars). Opiates were just slightly more expensive. Since we were not allowed to go into the Farmacia, we couldn’t legally take advantage of these great prices. Only the locals, tourists and the Peace Corp could. Hmm!

When I returned to the United States in October 1968, I was told, by a friend, that a lid of Hash was going for $35 to $40. To put this in proper perspective, a Big Mac, Fries and Coke cost less than a dollar.

According to the inflation calculator, what cost $1 in 1968 would cost $5.90 in 2007. However, I was told by a neighbor (about a year ago), that the cost was about $100 to $125 an ounce. He doesn’t use the stuff, but a friend of a friend does.

I questioned why, in this time of inflation, is the price so relative low? He said “Hydroponics and Grow Lights.” He also said that the quality of the product (THC levels) is much better than in the past and that the plants have higher yields. Growing cannabis in a garage or basement has become a cottage industry. It cost very little to produce and it’s easy to grow.

The hard part is not getting caught selling it.

NORML has been trying to legalize Marijuana for years. But let’s say that we make it illegal to sell it, but not to grow or use it. The Government would set up a Farmacia style chain throughout the country (this would employ a lot of people); they would also buy it from the people who were now allowed to grow it (more employment) legally and sell it in their Drug Stores.

The Government would sell it to the consumers at a lower cost than the Drug Dealers charge and still make a profit.

But this is a moot point because we are too moralistic and using drugs is very immoral.

The Beach Bum

Leave it to Granny

I recently read a story about a couple that lived about four miles from my daughter’s house (where I currently reside). The man is 21 years old, but the article did give the age of his wife.

The article stated that for the past six months, “He and his family (I assume that there is a child involved otherwise they would have written "he and his wife")” had been living in his wife’s grandmother’s home. He was arrested for cultivating Marijuana, after the grandmother called the Police about some “suspicious tomato plants growing in a large box” in her garage. She had gone to check the garage because her electric bills had been “significantly higher” during the past few months.

She must have really hated her grandson-in-law. Either that or she spent her life living in a plastic bubble. Even my Dad, who died in 2004 at the age of 89, knew what a marijuana plant looked like. Ok, let’s say she had bad vision. But why didn’t she go to her granddaughter and ask her why those lights were hanging over the plant box in the garage.

It was a short two paragraph article that could have been developed into a human interest story. But it wasn’t. Why? Because it was drug related.

When I read the short article the two questions that immediately lit up the light bulb in my shallow mind were; why were they living with the grandmother and why were they growing more pot than for personal use?

We are currently in a bad economy. Unemployment is soaring to mind staggering numbers and a great number of people are losing their homes.

Perhaps they were living with Grandma because they had lost their home and their jobs. And to supplement their income and to provide for their child; they grew and sold marijuana.

Who knows?

The staff reporters (no byline) didn’t write about the underlying causes, which they should have. But they like many others – they really don’t care, it’s just a job (and they still have their jobs). They just report the news as they (or their Editors) see fit. It’s all the news that is Print to Fit.

The Beach Bum