On My Flag

We’ve been caught up in discussions on money and banking, and The Law, for far too long. Let us now turn to far more serious matters – The Flag!

Ganja!

No Dope, No Hope.

Gimme Hope, Joanna!

I just got back from an expedition to “score” some ganja. As I drove slowly through the meandering country lanes of southern Goa, roads that are best called “Goa Constrictors” because of their narrowness, shaded roads lined with trees, no potholes, a modest country cottage here and there, some shops, a small hotel, a mosque, a temple, I passed by a drunk villager. He looked staggeringly done for at 10 AM!

And Ganja is illegal!

Here I am. Stoned. I smoked a big spliff there, bought some stuff – and hope it’s the right stuff – and drove back safely home, through the narrow and winding Goa constrictors. No one was hurt. Drank some water to cure the “cottonmouth” and here I am, writing.

And look at all the drunks.

And Ganja is Illegal!

Actually, this is even worse for public health. The market is pushed underground and there are no Brand Names to ensure Quality. People smoke bad stuff – this is particularly true of Delhi – and this is bad for public health. And do note that it is the “public” that smokes it: in Delhi, I can assemble a posse of autorickshaw drivers, rickshawallahs, bus drivers, tea shop owners, petty shopkeepers and the like – who smoke Bholaynath Ki Buti All Day Long. And they mostly smoke bad stuff.

This is not true of Amsterdam.

Where the “good bank” came from.

And yeah, the stuff I picked up is not the “right stuff.” Actually, I don’t mind paying for the right stuff to a Brand – like, say, Bhola Brand Manipuri Ganja, just as I pay for my Darjeeling tea. Or Mahesh Brand Malana Cream. In this unbranded business, two “good guys” get screwed: the farmer and the smoker.

I know what it feels like as a consumer who attempts to make voluntary exchanges in a black market. But I have also seen the pitiable condition of Farmers of the Noble Herb. I have seen this in the hills, I have seen this in the plains, I have seen this on the Western Ghats, where I now live. If the business was legal, these farmers would be driving SUVs.

And I would be Stoned Immaculate, focusing my mind and my valuable Time to other things, and not have to engage in this plea for cannabis legalization.

The “opportunity cost” of this post is the post that is “not seen”: I would then have written a longish post on roads, highways, expressways, the hub-and-spoke pattern.

But recall Say’s Law:

The Sale of X Creates the Demand for all non-X.

If this business were legal, the Farmers of the Noble Herb would use their increased incomes to buy up lots of other goods – from colour TVs to frost-free refrigerators, from SUVs to Scotch whisky. All other businesses have a Stake in advocating policies that keep all businesses Free: What I call Liberty Under Law.

This is the ONLY “common cause” that all businesses have. For any monopoly (which is always enforced with State action) lowers market activity, thereby hurting all other non-competing businesses. What is true of Monopoly is even truer for a Restriction - another misuse of State power. Closing down the dance bars of Bombay took business away from the makers of Finlandia vodka. Actually, all non-competing businesses lost. Even the pink chaddhi wallah lost.

Every businessman should be interested in free markets in all non-competitive businesses – for they are the source of his consumptions (so he is interested in competition) and also the source of all his Demand (so he is interested in Liberty For All).

Actually, all the “politics” of our chambers of commerce go against the members’ correctly perceived Individual Interest. They support each others’ privileges, and they never cry for Liberty - the end of all Restrictions Imposed by State Power.

Monopolies and Restrictions dampen the entire market catallaxy: the vital Energy that drives all businesses, powered by Consumers.

Now think of Amsterdam.

And Think of Consumers here of the Noble Herb, many of them foreign tourists. All Unhappy.

The Song: Ban The Police.

Prescription Of The Bush Doctor.