By AUSTIN KALUBA –

SIPOPA the Lozi chief, who reigned from 1864 to 1876, infuriated David Livingstone with his marijuana smoking, and Chikwanda, a Bemba chief, was killed while smoking the drug through a hookah (ichinkuli).
The drug was introduced to this part of the world by Arab traders who called it Bangalah or Bhang, both names derived from Bengal, thus the word ibange in ci-Bemba.
Even then, the use of marijuana in African societies whether for recreational or spiritual purposes was controlled.
Warriors were allowed to smoke dagga before an attack and believed they were capable of accomplishing almost any feat.
Chiefs when passing judgement smoked marijuana so that they were emboldened to pass fair verdicts.
What is it that makes marijuana so bad that we would rather ignore all the benefits and only focus on the negatives?
The commonest and incriminating negative aspect of cannabis is that the drug is harmful to mental health.
Though the question has provoked much debate over the years, often generating more heat than light, there is a general consensus that most people who use cannabis develop significant mental health problems.
Certain individuals, however, are more susceptible to the negative effects of its use.
Though in some societies cannabis was thought to be a relatively harmless drug, concerns were raised when some psychiatrists reported that excessive use could lead to a psychotic state, including hallucinations, delusions, and thought disturbance.
But the first noteworthy warning of a link between cannabis use and psychotic illness came only in 1987, from a large Swedish study that followed more than 50,000 subjects over 15 years.
The study revealed that cannabis use increased the likelihood of being diagnosed with schizophrenia in the next 15 years.
It found that the greater the use, the higher the likelihood of being diagnosed with a mental illness.
The coming of Rastafarianism, an Abrahamic new religious movement that accepts Haile Selassie I, the Ethiopian emperor from 1930 to 1974 as God incarnate and Messiah, has also compounded the negative attitude of ganja smoking.
Though Rastas are commonly against use of drugs like cocaine or heroin and alcohol which they consider poisons that defile the body that Jah (God) gave them. They regard ganja as a gateway to understanding and believing that the weed opens up the mind so as to be cognizant of the connection between oneself and Jah.
They think it is a meditative tool meant to bring about self-realisation and mystical experiences.
Annually, the DEC has instituted investigations into the abuse and trafficking of drugs that characterise the Bob Marley memorial concerts in Zambia.
It is against this background that the Green Party leader Peter Sinkamba’s announcement to legalise marijuana is understandably receiving heated debate.
Mr Sinkamba’s party is defying all odds like the existence of the Drug Enforcement Commission (which has made several crack-downs on marijuana consumption and trafficking) and the widely accepted link between the drug and madness has declared that it will legalise the cultivation of marijuana for export to earn foreign exchange.
The controversial announcement is contained in the party’s 36 policy interventions in agriculture to grow the economy.
Mr Sinkamba has stated that in European countries, especially in the Netherlands and Belgium, there is licensed consumption of Chamba (marijuana), arguing that the Green Party will legalise production in high security zones where security systems shall be so tight to ensure no drug goes out.
He has further stated that the Zambia National Service will work on the marijuana farms as cooperatives to produce the drug specifically for exports.
Understandably, Mr Sinkamba’s bold and controversial statement has received mixed reactions from members of the public and politicians.
Some politicians like Mike Mulongoti, the president of the People’s Party, have welcomed the policy while others, including the former Justice minister Wynter Kabimba, Minister of Youth and Sport, Chishimba Kambwili, Minister of Home Affairs Ngosa Simbyakula and his deputy Stephen Kampyongo, among others, including the DEC, have expressed resentment.
The Green Party’s bold stance needs support considering the fact that it is hinged on economic and medicinal benefits and not recreational considerations.
In European countries the debate for the legalisation of marijuana has reached a tipping point with the public citing the medical purposes for their decision to legalise the drug.
Marijuana’s medicinal value cannot be undervalued because of the negative effects of the drug on the user.
The drug has active ingredients that are used in most drugs that cure cancers, HIV infection, glaucoma, spinal cord injury, disk prolapse, asthma, hepatitis C, back pain, migraines, sleeping disorders, epilepsy, spasticity, headaches, and alcoholism.
An economically-impoverished Third World country like Zambia can benefit by exporting the drug because demand for its medicinal properties have increased worldwide.
One must consider the cruel fact that Zambia is among states that import and distribute drugs in hospitals with marijuana as the most active ingredient.
Why not grow the plant and export it globally?
As stated by the Green Party, the state of Colorado, Netherlands, Canada, and Israel are currently the leading suppliers of medicinal marijuana because they have legalised the cultivation and use ? either for medicinal purposes, recreational or both. The market for medicinal marijuana runs in billions of dollars.
However, while backing the Green Party for calling for the legalisation of marijuana, we would caution the advocates to acknowledge the ugly fact that the illicit marijuana production in Zambia at the moment is at an all-time high.
Since2009, DEC seized between 30-50 metric tonnes per annum. In monetary terms, if sold as medicinal marijuana abroad at current market value for an end user, the seizures would yield between €240 million and €400 million per annum.
A country like Zambia that is desperately dependent on copper would find an alternative source of forex through exporting marijuana.
The argument that marijuana is dangerous should not be taken lightly. Thus the legalisation should come with several stringent measures to police growing of the plant.
This should include stiffening illegal possession, growing, consumption and even exposure of the drug to the general public.
The argument that the drug is dangerous does not hold water considering that minerals like uranium that Zambia produces are used to make atomic bombs.
It is suspected that the atomic bombs that were used in Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 originated from either Zambia or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Has Zambia outlawed mining of uranium because of its devastating negative uses, e.g. the case in Japan? The answer is an emphatic no.
We have authorised the mining of uranium for its positive uses, this is, energy generation, under strict environmental and safety conditions.
We believe that we could do the same for marijuana. Produce it for medicinal purposes, under strict security arrangements.