naga_sadu
Active member
Kind of strange and at the same time shocking in a very negative way. What's wierd is that they never attempted this bullshit from the 50s till the late 80s- when they were still "the evil empire."
Funny how many "anti drug" initiatives start springing up worldwide the second an economy embraces neo-liberalism. Another sad example is Laos...and Cambodia.
It wouldn't surprise me if this bullshit initiative has the backing of certain parties- both Russian and foreign- who have a vested financial interest in keeping cannabis illegal. Another sad example is Nepal. I remember when u could just walk in to a charas shop come cafe and just buy some good quality shit off the counter and get stoned off your ass in peace.
All of a sudden, apparently out of the blue, charas was stomped on. Though it was a good sign that the clampdown was as ineffective as a KIA, true enough. But a bit of research showed clearly that the Nepali move was a byproduct of neo-liberalism.
After they "opened up" their economy to neo-liberalism, a host of MNCs- especially the pharma, liquor, tobacco companies basically put a gun into the Nepali govt's head and DEMANDED they clamped down on herbal refreshment. Something along the lines of herbal refreshment being eliminated as a precondition for FDI (foreign direct investment) from these MNCs. Of course, the MNCs don't communicate directly, they do it thru their host governments.
Also, there was a HUGE transfer of Bell Helicopters (forget the model No) being made to Nepal. These helis were supposedly there to complement the newly formed anti narcotics task force, whose formation wasn't a Nepali local idea by any means. It is also a well established fact that many "anti drug" initiatives abroad are mostly funded by tobacco, alcohol, paper, pharma MNCs. Arms mfrs. play an indirect role here because drug war means more spending on buying arms, ammo and equipment.
I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened in Russia as well. I kinda suspect this because during their Bolshevik days, eventhough they didn't exactly have pot friendly laws- they still never waged a war on cannabis to the point on spending research $$$ to destroy it. It was not uncommon to see wild growing cannabis plants in parts of Ukraine, kazastan etc.
They were more into space stations and shit. I wonder who's sponsoring and funding this so called initiative...? Most prolly not the local govt but the corpos...just as it was done in Nepal. Most of the guys here 've seen the developments in Nepal first hand...and this bullshit in Russia kinda toes along the VERY similar lines.
In Nepal, the pharma corpos pretty much tied up the academic community on condition that they cooperate against charas use. For example, generous "grants" and "educational investments" were poured into colleges and academic institutions who published articles citing both technical as well as moralistic reasons behind why the "drug war" is good. I don't see why the exact same people won't push for such a drive in Russia.
Dunking this initiative on the Russian government seems a bit odd to me, because just recently, they issued a set of laws easing up on drug possession. Why would they ease up possession laws while at the same time research something which would stomp out THC from cannabis? As I said, what's happening in Russia is very similar to Nepal. There are both Russian and foreign private parties who are sponsoring this bullshit and it will all get revealed in due time- just as it did in Nepal.
Funny how many "anti drug" initiatives start springing up worldwide the second an economy embraces neo-liberalism. Another sad example is Laos...and Cambodia.
It wouldn't surprise me if this bullshit initiative has the backing of certain parties- both Russian and foreign- who have a vested financial interest in keeping cannabis illegal. Another sad example is Nepal. I remember when u could just walk in to a charas shop come cafe and just buy some good quality shit off the counter and get stoned off your ass in peace.
All of a sudden, apparently out of the blue, charas was stomped on. Though it was a good sign that the clampdown was as ineffective as a KIA, true enough. But a bit of research showed clearly that the Nepali move was a byproduct of neo-liberalism.
After they "opened up" their economy to neo-liberalism, a host of MNCs- especially the pharma, liquor, tobacco companies basically put a gun into the Nepali govt's head and DEMANDED they clamped down on herbal refreshment. Something along the lines of herbal refreshment being eliminated as a precondition for FDI (foreign direct investment) from these MNCs. Of course, the MNCs don't communicate directly, they do it thru their host governments.
Also, there was a HUGE transfer of Bell Helicopters (forget the model No) being made to Nepal. These helis were supposedly there to complement the newly formed anti narcotics task force, whose formation wasn't a Nepali local idea by any means. It is also a well established fact that many "anti drug" initiatives abroad are mostly funded by tobacco, alcohol, paper, pharma MNCs. Arms mfrs. play an indirect role here because drug war means more spending on buying arms, ammo and equipment.
I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened in Russia as well. I kinda suspect this because during their Bolshevik days, eventhough they didn't exactly have pot friendly laws- they still never waged a war on cannabis to the point on spending research $$$ to destroy it. It was not uncommon to see wild growing cannabis plants in parts of Ukraine, kazastan etc.
They were more into space stations and shit. I wonder who's sponsoring and funding this so called initiative...? Most prolly not the local govt but the corpos...just as it was done in Nepal. Most of the guys here 've seen the developments in Nepal first hand...and this bullshit in Russia kinda toes along the VERY similar lines.
In Nepal, the pharma corpos pretty much tied up the academic community on condition that they cooperate against charas use. For example, generous "grants" and "educational investments" were poured into colleges and academic institutions who published articles citing both technical as well as moralistic reasons behind why the "drug war" is good. I don't see why the exact same people won't push for such a drive in Russia.
Dunking this initiative on the Russian government seems a bit odd to me, because just recently, they issued a set of laws easing up on drug possession. Why would they ease up possession laws while at the same time research something which would stomp out THC from cannabis? As I said, what's happening in Russia is very similar to Nepal. There are both Russian and foreign private parties who are sponsoring this bullshit and it will all get revealed in due time- just as it did in Nepal.
Last edited:
