Sense And Nonsense - On Getting High

One of the biggest hassles I face while living in Delhi is buying beer. This hugely profitable retail trade is a State monopoly in Delhi – so there are very few shops. I have to drive many kilometres to a marketplace where there is a sarkaari shop, and where there is also adequate parking. After making my purchase, there is the long and meandering drive back. This is unnecessary use of the car. If this retail trade were freed, there would be shops selling booze everywhere, and cases of cold beer would be home delivered – on trolleys.

Why is our The State so keen on running Delhi’s booze shops? The answer lies not in the retail monopoly, but in the purchase monopoly: The State is the monopoly buyer of booze and can decide what brands to push through its retail shops. This is the real ugly side to this policy: the "monopsony." It is designed for corruption – and also for the exploitation of the consumer. The consumer, of course, in their scheme of things, is just a daroobaaz with an addiction problem. No thought is ever given to him.

I can contrast this to Goa, where I lived in a sleepy village for long. There, beer is no problem. Of course, I have to drive out, but once I reach the crossing where the shops are located – barely 300 yards away from home – there is a booze shop on the left, one on the right, and another if I go straight ahead. Alternatively, if I want to just drink a cold beer, there are two bars right at the crossing itself. Somehow, Goa seems much more “civilized” than Delhi – and both are in the same country. Why can’t the Goa scenario be replicated in the Capital?

I can therefore only “look and laugh” at Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi’s exhortation to anti-corruption officials to “catch the big fish.” The real corruption in India is political – that is, the corruption lies in their evil idea as to what the “Role of State” should be. Their core belief is that The State has a big role to play in The Market. It is this idea that is corrupt.

Perhaps political corruption of this sort can never be ended. But then, I would much prefer to live in a country where the corrupt among the “small fish” are weeded out. It is these small fish that we encounter in our day-to-day existence – and they are the ones who should be straightened out. So Chacha gets a big “zero” from me on his latest soundbytes.

Apart from “cannabliss,” which is my flag, and this flag flies high, I am also a big votary of cheap beer for the masses. Today, they are all hooked to sugary tea. Too much sugar is bad for the health. Beer contains neither sugar nor salt. And it has been boiled, so there are no germs. It is made with barley – so there is some nutrition in it.

In my view, beer should be totally delicensed, so that microbreweries sprout all over the nation, selling draught beer on tap to all comers, cheap. Let beer displace tea and the national drink.

In the meantime, while cannabliss is illegal and beer is over-regulated, these new “energy drinks” like Red Bull and Cloud Nine are to be found selling everywhere. They are also very expensive. And they pack a mighty punch. One young lad who tried these said that he felt completely drained out when the trip was over. These cannot be good for the health. A tea of coca leaves is surely much healthier if you want some faux energy.

So, no matter what you look at, the policies of The State are not only corrupt, but actually harmful.

We need complete freedom, so we can choose our highs. These choices must not be made for us by The State, which encourages the wrong things and discourages the good.

No more prohibitions.

We need the Freedom to Get High.