Taking Pot Shots
‘GIVEN the amount of time we spend discussing the legalisation or otherwise of cannabis and the abolition or otherwise of fox-hunting, a visitor to this country might be forgiven for assuming that we spent all our time smoking spliffs and chasing animals round fields.
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| The green, green grass of home |
This, as we all know, is not the case. The most extreme form of munchies most of us get can easily be satisfied by a trip to the corner shop and the purchase of a packet of crisps.
Only in extreme cases do we resort to chasing animals to satisfy our hunger and even then the more sensible among us tend to pick on cows because they provide more meat and cant run as fast as foxes.
But politicians like nothing better than to argue over the minutiae of social policy while the world around them is going to rack and ruin.
It is known as the Nero approach, the art of fiddling while Rome burns.
So, with only a week to go before the Governments decision to downgrade cannabis from a Class B drug to a Class C drug, Tory leader Michael Howard is already promising to reverse the policy.
After thinking about this very carefully, he tells this mornings Independent, we have come to the view that the Governments decision is completely misconceived and, when we return to office, we will reclassify cannabis back to Class B.
Oh great! We cant wait for yet more posturing about this most unimportant of issues.
So, in the interest of serious political debate, can we at Anorak humbly suggest the following solution?
When politicians are minded to add yet another substance or activity to the banned list, they should simultaneously have to unban something of similar weight.
Ban fox-hunting? Okay, but you have to legalise joy-riding. Make smoking in public places illegal? Okay, but give the thumbs-up to al fresco sex.
Ban Kilroy? Okay, but give us The Abu Hamza Show.’
Posted: 22nd, January 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
