Patriots! Smoke Afghani Hash

When the owner of a "coffee shop" in Amsterdam says that it his "patriotic duty to smoke Afghani Hash" (he adds, "from the Northern Alliance") I take it seriously, because I have been to many coffee shops in Amsterdam, and written about it too.

This quote appeared in an excellent article by Julien Mercille in Counterpunch (I got the link via the Lew Rockwell blog) and some of the descriptions of things on the ground, as far as the production of Afghani hash is concerned - for example, that Afghan farmers are three times more productive than those in Morocco - are truly worth reading with full attention. This, for a very important reason: The USSA-NATO-Pakistan-Chacha network are all painting the Taliban as "enemies of India." Even today, there is a report in the Express, quoting an expert witness at a US Congressional hearing, that Pakistan might use the Taliban to nuke India, if some war breaks out over Kashmir. Now, I have been to Srinagar - read the travels here - and it is a horrible place for the local people: the people over whom all this warring is going on. This must end. But we were talking about the Taliban.

The article by Mercille concludes:

This might give pause to the many pundits who argue that we must fight a war on drugs in order to cut the Taliban’s finances. Wouldn’t eliminating opium and cannabis crops also cut many other Afghans’ income, including government forces’, weakening them in their fight against insurgents? This question has been pondered by Dutch marijuana shop owners post 9-11, who have wondered if smoking Afghan hash amounts to supporting terrorism. One of the owners, Nol Van Schaik, gave an interesting answer: “If the Northern Alliance are the people on the ground who are going to defeat the Taliban, people who want to defeat the Taliban should buy as much of their hash as they can,” Van Schaik said: “It's a patriotic duty to buy their hash.”

Good bumper sticker, what?

Be A Patriot: Smoke Afghani Hash

When I began smoking hash back in the early 70s, in New Delhi, Afghani hash was freely available. Mercille says there are more than 500,000 hash smokers in Afghanistan; I'd bet there are more hash smokers in New Delhi today. And they are smoking crap.

But why only New Delhi? Goa as a tourist destination, also known for cannabis smoking, would gain by opening up its airport to Afghani hash imports. There is a lot of local competition in beach tourism - Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bali, etc. By allowing a free market for "herbs" like hashish resin, Goa would gain a competitive advantage. Hash is non-addictive. It is good for the appetite. It enhances sexual pleasure. It makes music very intense. Babur used Afghani hashish. (He tried alcohol too - but gave it up).

If Goa does this, won't Goans always be safe from Taliban terrorism? - and never get nuked?

My point is this: It was Chacha's foreign minister - a former UN bureaucrat - who was found to be corrupt. Do we need centralised foreign policy? If trade is free, and if we trade with all people, we will be secure. So I don't agree with buying only Northern Alliance hash - I would say let all suppliers of Afghan hash sell their stuff in India.

The word "catallactics," which means the "science of exchange" is based on a Greek word kattalatien (I may have spelt it wrong.) According to Friedrich Hayek, who confessed to "having fallen in love with this word", there were two other meanings the ancient Greeks attached to the word exchange: and that is, "to welcome into the community"; and "to turn from enemy into friend."

If we want peace with all Afghanis - and indeed, all peoples - we must first freely trade with them. The idea of an urban catallaxy where strangers gainfully exchange amongst themselves is radically different from the primitive idea of "community" that communists swear by, or even the monolithic "society" so beloved of socialists.

The Indian sub-continent must aim towards becoming an association of many free, competing, urban catallaxies - where strangers interact in peace. Why shouldn't these strangers include the Taliban? They would have no war with us if we bought their hash. It would solve the security problem. Solve a law enforcement problem. Solve a diplomatic problem. Promote tourism. And get you high as well. What could be better.

So if you believe in the idea of the urban catallaxy, put this message on your car or t-shirt:

Patriots! Smoke Afghani Hash.