In a
culture suffused with marijuana, a new film looks at its medical benefits
By Yuliya Ni
All over Prague
one can constantly see a tremendous amount of posters, advertisements and
products related in one way or another to marijuana. Cannabis festivals and
marches are held every year in the Czech Republic, and seem to be very popular.
And now there is a Czech documentary film, Year of Mari©uana by Petr Slabý, currently
showing at the Světozor and Aero cinemas. The title of the movie says it all.
Some people
believe that marijuana offers medical benefits, such as helping to stimulate
appetite and relieve nausea in AIDS and cancer patients, and in treating
depression. Some states in the U.S., like California, have legalized the drug
for medicinal purposes, which have proved to work exceptionally well. Marijuana
is also known to relieve symptoms of multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and
post-traumatic stress disorder. The Czech Ministry of Health has said it will
take marijuana off the list of banned substances, and for the first time allow
it to be prescribed as medicine by doctors.
This topic is
deeply discussed in Year of Mari©uana, which follows a whole range of
people dealing with cannabis, approaching its use from various perspectives and
presenting the soulful stories of several patients who use cannabis to help
relieve the effects of cancer and multiple sclerosis. Professor Lumir Ondřej Hanuš, a scientist who has dedicated his
professional career to cannabis research, and Dušan Dvořák, an activist and
founder of the “Cannabis is a Cure” foundation, are also featured in the movie.
There are a lot
of funny moments in the movie when the situation is almost absurd, especially
when people show their purest love for marijuana. Scenes of huge marijuana
plantations are shown accompanied by relaxing junkie music. After watching Year
of Mari©uana, it is easy to get the impression that marijuana can and
should be used for medical treatment, especially for people who have serious
diseases.
This is only one
example of the popularity of marijuana in the Czech Republic, especially among
the young generation. This green, smelly bud has created a subculture and even
an image of our debauchery, a greedy-for-entertainment generation.
According to the
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Czech youth
are the leaders in smoking marijuana. So it is not surprising that the Czech
Republic has some of the most liberal drug laws in Europe, and produces most of
the continent’s methamphetamine (although the country’s AIDS rates are among
the lowest in Europe).
It seems like
Prague is going to be the New Amsterdam of the East. Currently, it is only a
misdemeanor to have up to 5 plants of hemp or 15 grams of marijuana, 40 pieces
of “magic” mushrooms, 5 grams of hashish, 5 LSD-laced papers or other materials
with LSD, 1.5 grams of heroin, 1 gram of cocaine or 2 grams of methamphetamine.
Possessing these items can still result in heavy fines, but as of January 1,
2010, they are not criminal offenses.
As a result of
the new law, the prices of drugs in the Czech Republic reportedly decreased by
30-40%. However a contradictory
situation has emerged: On the one hand, people can carry and use small amounts
of drugs with no serious penalties. On the other, there are no official places
to sell them, so the trade remains illegal. Therefore, visitors may not find
Prague as enticing as the Netherlands. You are not able to buy marijuana in a
“coffee shop,” like in Amsterdam, but you will not spend time in jail just for
partying in a club and having a joint with you.
According to
statistics, 28% of Czechs younger than 24 smoke marijuana at least once a year,
the highest rate in the European Union, although the use of hard drugs is on
average lower than in the rest of the EU. The recent increase in youthful
marijuana use has fueled speculation that a new epidemic of hard drug abuse may
be imminent, and that the burden of drug abuse will be dramatically increasing
in the near future.
In 2004, the
United Nations estimated that approximately 4% of the adult world population
(162 million people) used cannabis annually, and that approximately 0.6% (22.5
million people) used cannabis daily.
 |
| Scene from the movie |
Various surveys
identified a rapid increase in marijuana use during the 1990s, especially among
youths. This raises a variety of questions about the future of the nation’s
drug problems. On one hand, the gateway theory posits that youthful use of
alcohol and/or tobacco and marijuana tends to precede use of other illicit
drugs like crack and heroin. On the other hand, the start of this new epidemic
coincides with the decline of the crack epidemic. This suggests that youthful
subcultures may have shifted from the destructive nature of crack to the use of
less dangerous drugs.
Year of Mari©uana ends with a phrase: “The worst and
strongest drug is the person himself.” This attitude lifts it above propaganda,
and makes it worth seeing. The film reveals some unknown interesting facts that
make the viewer think about marijuana issues from another perspective, mapping
the problem in an objective rather than a biased way. Showing the possibilities
and limits of the medical use of cannabis, the film raises important questions
about the right to health and personal
freedom.
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