On Ganja... And Socialism

There is great news on the ganja front from California. After allowing “medical marijuana” for long, the sunshine state is now moving towards full legalization by adopting a novel procedure: “nullification.”

Nullification is defined as follows:

When a state ‘nullifies’ a federal law, it is proclaiming that the law in question is void and inoperative, or ‘non-effective,’ within the boundaries of that state; or, in other words, not a law as far as that state is concerned.

Come November 2010, and citizens of California will vote to nullify federal marijuana legislation. Thereafter, anyone above 21 in California can possess or grow cannabliss; and local governments will decide on regulation and taxation.

Imagine the same scene in India – when the state governments of Manipur, Kerala, Orissa, Goa, Himachal and Uttaranchal vote to nullify the central government’s draconian NDPS Act.

That will be the day.

Of course, the day could come sooner if district administrators simply refused to implement this nasty legislation. There is a precedent here: Philip Mason’s The Men Who Ruled India tells the tale of one such district officer who, when faced with government legislation he disagreed with, wrote on the file “This legislation will not apply to my district” and returned the file to where it came from.

Such independence on the part of crucial administrators is needed today, if only to uphold the ideals of the “rule of law.” There is no law that is flouted more openly throughout India than cannabliss law. Indeed, this makes a mockery of the law and the police, and gives the administration a bad name. They are seen as corrupt, as being hand-in-glove with various anti-social mafia gangs who sell the stuff, usually third-rate, or even adulterated, as in New Delhi.

Yeah, we too could do with some “nullification” of stupid law.

And speaking of nullification, Meghnad, Lord Desai’s Sunday column in the Express speaks of the end of socialism in Europe. He concludes thus:

There has been no cry for a fundamental rejection or reform of capitalism. The cry is to get it back on its feet as soon as possible and then think of getting it into a better shape. The IMF has abandoned its previous insistence on balanced budgets and wishes the fiscal boost to continue while putting off the problem of paying off the debts. We are Keynesians—sort of—and wish the recent past to come back somewhat whitewashed and better looking but not too different from what it was like.

This has meant a real crisis for Socialists. In Europe, they are losing ground. Germany rejected the oldest Socialist party in Europe and chose the conservative party of Angela Merkel. In France Sarkozy rules and the Socialists are on the way out. In UK the Labour Party just finished its conference but we all know the future is bleak. Capitalism has its problems but Socialism does not seem to be the answer. Indeed, the 20th century had a surfeit of Socialism and found it a failure. It is a big hole in politics and how it will be filled will be the big question of the 21st century. There are many aspirations the Socialists had—for equality, humanity in capitalism—but as of now the world is not turning to Socialism for an answer. What we do about this will determine how the world begins to adjust the changing balance of economic power.

Yippee! Socialism has been nullified.

Excuse me while I light my spliff.