If you thought your elections were labyrinthine, try Thailand. A wonderful report from Australia’s ABC that illustrates the complexity of politics in the country plus a healthy dose of cannabis.
Here’s a short taster …
And this is where the cannabis and juicy jobs come into play.
The Bhumjaithai party (51 MPs) campaigned on a pro-cannabis platform, arguing that legalising marijuana for traditional medicines and scientific testing would give Thai farmers the chance to grow a lucrative crop.
To be clear, this is about farmers and pharmaceutical companies making money, not recreational pot-smoking, and the junta had already started to loosen Thailand’s policy, so it was an easy deal to make.
Thailand’s oldest political party went with more a time-honoured request: positions of power.
Read the full article at https://www.google.com/search?q=labryinthine&oq=labryinthine&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2913j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
As an addendum it’s worth noting that Orwell once tried Kif (hashish) and he wasn’t that keen.
George Orwell tried marijuana, didn’t like it
From the LA Times
https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2008/10/orwell-tries-ma.html
The Orwell Prize is posting, to the day, diary entries by George Orwell from 1938. Some days, like today, Oct. 10, are as pithy and uninteresting as a status update on Facebook: “Midday temperature (indoors) today 26°, ie. about 78°F. This is much cooler than the last few days. This evening cool enough to wear a coat.” Whoopee.
But other days are much more fun. Writing in Morocco, he observes children at work, the attitude of veiled women (“anything but shy”), the foods available for sale in a market; he draws pictures of stirrups and bows and drills and other unfamiliar mechanisms. He’s curious about everything:
Arab drug kiff, said to have some kind of intoxicating effect, smoked in long bamboo pipes with earthenware head about the size of a cigarette holder. The drug resembles chopped grass. Unpleasant taste & — so far as I am concerned -– no effect. Sale said to be illegal, though it can be acquired everywhere for 1 Fr. For about a tablespoonful.