Presented by the Cigarette Dealers Association in Cairo and Giza, a recent reform proposal to legalize the use and trade of hashish in Egypt has many citizens raising their eyebrows.
While many people may think of this proposal as a joke, the fact remains that the potential law could affect the nearly one-third of Egyptians who do smoke hashish.
According to the 2013 report issued by the National Council for Battling Addiction, drug use among people aged 15 and above has rocketed from 6.4 percent to 30 percent since 2011.
“This is absurd. The government will never openly legalize hash,” said a 26-year-old who has been smoking recreationally for four years. “The government makes a lot of money off the trade of hash, and they wouldn’t just cut it off.”
“Even if it is a legalized, there will still be the social taboo which I don’t think will change” he added. “I wouldn’t be worried when I smoke that I may get arrested, but I certainly won’t be able to openly tell my mother about it.”
He went on to say that if hashish were legalized among adults, it might find its way more easily to younger teenagers and even children.
“I know it used to be normal back in the 70s in Egypt, because my grandfather used to smoke until my grandmother forced him to stop when the government started being strict about hash,” a 28-year old woman who has been smoking for six years said. “I heard rumors that Sadat himself used to smoke hash.”
The woman also said she hoped that by legalizing hash, there would be a higher quality of the drug on the market.
“When I tried hash in Morocco, the quality and purity difference was undeniably obvious," she said.
The 28-year-old is also a multiple sclerosis (MS) patient, who believes that there are various medical benefits of hashish. “I heard it’s good for MS, and quite relieving for the numbness,” she commented. “It’s not all about getting high.”
In his presentation to the legislative reform committee, Osama Salama, chair of the Cigarette Dealers Association, suggested that by legalizing hash, Egypt's economic problems could be solved very quickly.
“The illegal trading of hashish amounts to LE42 billion ($5.5 billion) annually, which constitutes 2.5 percent of the national income,” Osama Salama said. “The government spends LE1 billion (app. $131 million) every year to fight it, only managing to uncover around 15 percent the total traded amount.”
While certain that legalizing hashish will reap many benefits for the country, a 24-year-old computer science engineer who co-founded the Egyptian Campaign for Legalizing Hashish on Facebook was quite doubtful that the law would be passed.
“Given the political turmoil that the country has been going through, the people would be outraged if they wake up to such decision,” he commented, “they believe there are much more important stuff that needs to be attended to now.”
But between hope and skepticism, there remains a hope for the day when Egypt will join the few foreign countries who have legalized hash, a list that includes The Netherlands, Uruguay and, according to some reports, North Korea.