TO SMOKE OR NOT TO SMOKE?

In Zambia we never run out of topics to discuss. At the moment there is a fresh debate (or not so fresh) which is going on. This debate is all about a plant which allegedly has more than 100 names worldwide.

Some of the listed names for this plant are so strange. Wacky Tabacky, Hooch, Peyote, Green Monster, Indian Boy, Art Supplies, Panama Red, Oscar the Grouch and even Green Pants.

In Zambia this plant is commonly called "Icamba". You may know it as Hemp, Cannabis, Marijuana or simply Weed. 

A political party named Green Party has insisted that it will legalise the cultivation of marijuana if they are elected to run this country. The President of the Party Mr Peter Sinkamba said if Marijuana was allowed to flourish it would bring $15 billion to the country's treasury.

"It will not only bring in money but we are going to employ about 300,00 youths which will benefit the country." 

On top of that, The Green Party has promised that it will abolish the Drug Enforcement Commission. I am not here to talk politics but I have noticed how this has excited certain quarters of our society.

The possession of Marijuana is prohibited in many countries with jail terms ranging from light sentence to severe. Countries like China, Indonesia, Japan, Sweden, Turkey, France, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Philippines and the United Arab Emirates have the strictest cannabis laws.

It is said that the oldest known record of cannabis use came from the Chinese in 2727 B.C. The Greeks and Romans  were also familiar with cannabis. In 1545 it spread to the western hemisphere where Spaniards imported it to Chile where it was used as fibre. 

Marijuana was criminalised in many countries in the early 20th century. In the United States the first restrictions for sale of marijuana came in 1906. It was also outlawed in South Africa in 1911, in Jamaica in 1913 and in the United Kingdom in the 1920s. 

Marijuana has considerable medical benefits ranging from glaucoma to cancer. Despite this, possession of marijuana is prohibited in many countries because it is classified as a Schedule I drug on the basis that it has a high potential for abuse.

Advocates for the legalisation of marijuana say apart from its curing properties, it also promotes creativity, open-mindedness, moral progression and so on. 

One person even said that Marijuana triples your potential. If you are a song writer, you will be come more creative in song writing. If you are an author, your writing will be more creative. The later seemed like a joke because if that was the case, one would assume that if you are dumb, then you will become dumber.

Many people do not use marijuana as a medicine but they consume it for its psychoactive and physiological effects which includes heightened mood or euphoria, relaxation and even for an increase in appetite.  

On the other hand, despite its medicinal use, marijuana is also associated with impairment of cognitive function when it is used frequently. A cognitive function test indicated that chronic marijuana smokers did worse  than non-smokers. Those who started smoking marijuana before the age of 16 did worse than those whom started smoking it later in life. 

Chronic smokers repeated errors more often even after they were corrected. They also had more trouble maintaining a set of rules. It is also said that Marijuana use impairs short term memory, alters judgment and decision making. It affects mood, producing severe anxiety, paranoia and psychosis in extreme cases. 

For those who smoke it, marijuana smoke is an irritant to the lungs, similar to tobacco smoke. Marijuana smokers have the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers although no increased risk of lung cancer has been described to date in medical research. 

That said, possession of cannabis is illegal in most countries as a result of the agreement about Indian Hemp, in the international Opium convention of 1925. That in itself makes it a challenge for the Green Party to export marijuana outside the country because their are currently about five countries where the possession of marijuana is legal or almost legal. 

SEX CAN MAKE YOU LOOSE YOUR GENITALIA

I am not a TV News addict but on this particular day, my attention was caught by one of the items on the headlines. 

“A lusty woman of Chongwe district who desires more substantial sex with her husband is allegedly on the run after partially cutting her husband’s penis with a knife for refusing sex with her.”

After watching the clip of the injured man, I started asking myself questions why anyone in their right frame of mind would go to such an extent for the love of sex. Usually, women who react angrily by attacking the penis do so when the husband has been sleeping around with other women. 

On 2 may 2014, a Malawian woman cut off her husband's private parts in similar circumstances. The husband is a fisherman and he had gone on a job errand on Lake Chirwa for some days, leaving her pregnant wife behind.

When the man came back, the wife welcomed him as usual. During bed time, the wife asked for sex, but the husband refused saying he was too tired to perform. The woman amputated her husband's sex organs while he was fast asleep.

If the two women above really did what they did because of not having sex from their husbands, then one would assume that they suspected that their husbands were having sex with other women and the last resort was to harvest the guilty tool by cutting it off.

In nearby Zimbabwe, a man's private parts were doused with petrol and burnt by the wife along with her sister. The man was on separation with his wife but on this unfortunate night, he went to her house and demanded for sex.

When the wife refused, he threatened to kill her. The wife's sister took a 5 litre container of petrol and doused the man before his wife set him on fire saying she wanted to burn the private parts causing them unrest.

A lot of married people have been injured or even killed because of sex. One would think that people who are married have a fantastic sex life and they can have it any time they want. But the above examples reveal that sex can cause a lot of harm even in marriages. 

One young lady was complaining. "My boyfriend has a problem. He gets extremely angry when I don't give him sex when he wants it. It is very rare that he pursues sex and I deny him so I don't understand what his problem is. Maybe once in every two or three months he will get denied." 

"Yesterday we had a huge fight about this. I was home from work and was working in the house all day. He came home and wanted it. I did not because I was so filthy. It escalated to him punching our closet door and putting a hole in it. Is this normal guy behaviour or am I living with a psycho?"

A lot of men and women get so angry when the partner denies them sex. The truth is everyone has days when they are just not into it and no matter how the partner tries to get them in the mood, nothing will change that. 

However, the way one refuses sex can also have a bearing on how the other person will react. Do not make it look like you do not like the person. What bothers most people is not actually being refused sex itself but the feeling of being rejected. 

This is the time when someone now starts asking questions as to why they are being rejected. For most people, the conclusion could be that their partner is having sex with someone else. This could even be the major reason why people who become violent after being refused sex would attack the sex organs.

There are so many wild stories all over the world of people doing all sorts of things to partners all for the sake of sex. Last week, a 27 years old woman of Chipata's Mkanda area told the Chipata Magistrates Court how her husband cut off part of her genitalia with a razor blade to make her unattractive to other men.

How were other men going to see her genitalia as if she always walked around without wearing any panties? That is the most cruel thing to do. It is natural for a person to be jealousy and and angry when a partner is involved in an extra marital affair but there must be a limit to how that punishment is meted out. 

I remember when I was young my mother would tell us of how people who stole things had their hands amputated. This practice is still done in some countries where they practice Sharia law. 

According to INSA news service, Iran has unveiled a finger amputating machine. A man who was convicted of theft and adultery by a court was used as a demonstration. 

I am sure we have not seen or heard the last about sexual organs being attacked by aggrieved partners. 

Image courtesy of Dundee Photographics freedigitalphotos.net