Could Legalizing Hash Reap Good For Egypt?

*This is the longer unedited version of a piece that ran earlier on StepFeed.com on April 7th at 3:26pm*

Legislative reform has been a window of hope for many Egyptians since the eruption of the revolution in 2011; a glimpse of hope that was renewed with the formation of the supreme legislative reform committee decreed by president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in August 2014.

The committee, headed by Egypt’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab, has been looking into several reform proposals. Among the recent proposals is one that calls for legalizing the use and trade of hashish in Egypt which was presented by the Cigarette Dealers Association in Cairo and Giza.

According to the 2013 report issued by the National Council for Battling Addiction, drug use among people aged 15 and above has rocketed from 6.4 percent to 30 percent since 2011.

While many people may think of this proposal as a joke, the fact remains that it affects almost one thirds of Egyptians who smoke hashish. Upon speaking with a few hashish smokers, it was clear that they unanimously hoped for this proposal to pass as a law, but each had a different take on the matter.

“It is absurd. The government will never openly legalize hash,” expressed a 26-year-old who has been smoking recreationally for four years. “The government makes a lot of money off the trade of hash, and they wouldn’t just cut it off.”

Referring to the case of one of the biggest hashish traders in Egypt, Nagah, who was released with a fine, the 26-year-old believes it’s quite obvious that there are agreements between the government and the hashish traders.

“Even if it is a legalized, there will still be the social taboo which I don’t think will elevate easily,” he adds. “I wouldn’t be worried when I smoke that I may get arrested, but I certainly won’t be able to openly tell my mother about it.”

Yet a deeper concern remains for the 26-year-old, that if hashish is legalized among adults, it will find its way more easily to the younger teenagers and even children.

For another 26-year-old smoker who works in the music industry, he was both worrisome and skeptical about the idea of legalizing hashish. “If the government legalizes it, and enforces restrictions on the market, many dealers will be jobless because the government doesn’t secure decent jobs for them,” he speculated. “Everything seems to backfire in Egypt somehow!”

Furthermore, he expects that should the proposal be passed on as a law, it’s more likely to be bait that the government is setting to orchestrate a crisis and blame it on legalizing hashish.

“They might as well just legalize it. Everyone already smokes up,” was the instant response of 28-year-old woman who’s been smoking for 6 years.

“I know it used to be normal back in the seventies in Egypt, because my grandfather used to smoke until my grandmother forced him to stop when the government started being strict about hash,” she added. “I even heard rumors that Sadat himself used to smoke hash.”

One reason the young woman was hopeful for such law to be passed was to ensure the market starts offering better quality hashish. “The hash available in Egypt is never pure HTC,” she remarked. “When I tried hash in Morocco, the quality and purity difference was instantly obvious.”

In addition to her hope for better quality on the market, the hopeful 28-year-old who is also a multiple sclerosis (MS) patient shed light on the various medical benefits of hashish. “I heard it’s good for MS, and quite relieving for the numbness,” she commented. “It’s not all about getting high.”

The many benefits of hemp, or cannabis, may come in secondary importance to some smokers, but to one 28-year-old, it was the center of his attention. And it wasn’t just learning about the many industrial, nutrition and economic benefits of hemp that the 28-year-old delved into. “I have been reading about gardening and studying it for seven years to be able to grow my own weed,” he said. 

The seven-year-journey of learning gardening made him fall in love with all that is green, and he now plants a lot more than just weed, remarking that he loves planting flowers as well.

“To me, growing my own weed is a similar approach to those who prefer to buy organic vegetables,” he remarked. “This way, I’m sure of what I’m smoking, and I know that it’s pure HTC.”

For him, legalizing the trade and use of hashish is a decision that would loosen up many dire challenges in Egypt. “Can you imagine the amount of people who are imprisoned because they were smoking or trading in hash? Not to mention the amount of money and court cases spent on similar cases,” he added, commenting that those were all wasted resourced that could be better utilized if hashish were legal.

He also added that legalizing hash will allow Egypt to produce better quality cannabis and even export it. Not to mention the amount of tax money which they can make of such trade. “It would solve a lot of Egypt’s economic problems in a really short duration.”

The similar idea was suggested as Osama Salama, chair of the Cigarette Dealers Association, presented the legislative reform committee with the hashish legalization proposal.

“The illegal trading of hashish amounts to LE42 billion (USD 5.5 bn) annually, which constitutes 2.5 percent of the national income,” said Salama. “The government spends LE1 billion (app. USD 131 million) every year to fight it, only managing to uncover around 15 percent the total traded amount.”

While many hashish smokers found the news about the proposal to be uplifting and hopeful, the news wasn’t surprising for the 24-year-old computer science engineer who co-founded the Egyptian Campaign for Legalizing Hashish on Facebook.

“After the revolution in 2011, anything was possible, and we thought it was a great chance to start the campaign,” says the 24-year-old. The campaign was originally launched to raise awareness about the medical and scientific benefits of hashish. “We also wanted to educate people about what they were smoking, and how to avoid any harmful attempts.”

But as he mentions, people weren’t much drawn to the scientific and informative content that they shared, so they started posting more humorous content instead.

The 24-year-old brought to light the two stages that this proposal may lead to if considered. “It can either be decriminalize, which will make way for growing hemp for medical and industrial purposes, or fully legalized which would allow use and trade of hashish.”

While certain that legalizing hashish will reap many benefits for the country, he was quite doubtful that such law would be passed. “Given the political turmoil that the country has been going through, the people would be outraged if they wake up to such decision,” he commented, “they believe there are much more important stuff that needs to be attended to now.”

But between hope and skepticism, there remains a hope for the day when Egypt would join all the foreign countries who gained a lot by legalizing hashish.