"I understand that there are a few western countries that have made a decision that Cannabis consumption is now legal,"
A few months ago, the Syrian Democratic forces announced the liberation of the city of Raqqa, which until recently was the capital of ISIS in Syria.
For me, this good news was an excellent opportunity to go out and examine the situation in this war-torn country. How do the local residents feel after the regime of the Islamic state? How does the place look like after months of intense fighting? Is there anyone with whom I could talk about the Idea of legalization as part of the rehabilitation process?
Syria isn’t America
My first stop was Qamishli, a city largely controlled by the Kurdish forces, but the Syrian army still holds a number of neighborhoods and strategic buildings (such as the city airport & hospital)
In the offices of the United Democratic Party, which is considered to be the leading political force in the Kurdish autonomy in northern Syria, I met with Asya Abdullah, the party chairman, to ask her whether there is a chance of seeing legal cannabis in Syria in the near future.
“I understand that there are a few western countries that have made a decision that Cannabis consumption is now legal,” she says. “But every country has laws that are appropriate for its local population. I’m not the person to address for these questions, but it seems to me that such a move will not be accepted here by most of the residents”
It was clear that Mrs. Abdulla was not interested in addressing the issue and preferred to give an evasive answer, so I decided to examine what the local enforcement authorities were thinking about the hashish issue. To this end I met with Hanna Sarkis, spokesman for the Sutoro, one of the police militias operating in the area.
“It will start with Hashish and proceed to Heroin”
Although we arranged the meeting in coordination with the police, it seems that Mr. Sarkis was not prepared for the questions I asked him and requested to stop the interview shortly after we started.
Only after turning off the camera, he agreed to address the issue of legalization in Syria: “If we approve the hashish, people might continue to heroin and cocaine,” the spokesman explained while supporting the “Gateway theory” that was disproved years ago. “If we allow people to commit minor offenses, they will fall into much more serious offenses.”
After realizing that those holding official positions in northern Syria were not exactly pro-legalization, I wanted to check what the media and the local press position was regarding the subject – will they save the day?
I traveled to the city of Kobani to meet Mustafa Ali, a young journalist who had covered the cannabis scene that once flourished in the area, but to my disappointment, I discovered that he too was stuck in a somewhat primitive concept.
“When you talk about cannabis in Syria, we have to get to the root, to understand where the problem starts, the cannabis crops in northern Syria did not start as an original initiative of the local residents,” he explained. “These were the Turks who smuggled Cannabis seeds to Syria and encouraged the locals to grow and distribute the drug. They have a clear purpose and it is to corrupt our society.”
These ridiculous accusations immediately reminded me of the arguments in the dark era of Harry Anslinger, claiming that the Mexicans are trying to corrupt the American society with marijuana.
In the end, I accepted the fact that Syria would not become a Cannabis empire in the near future, and I decided to conclude my journey with a trip to the most non-Cannabis-friendly city in the world.
A visit to the prison of the Islamic state
After a few hours of travel, dozens of roadblocks and special permits I had to achieve from the local security forces, I finally arrived at Raqqa, the city that, until recently, was the capital of ISIS in Syria.
For months this city was under aerial bombardment that has certainly left its mark – wherever I look I see only destruction and ruins.
The Islamic state, as we know, strongly opposed cannabis, as well as alcohol and cigarettes. Anyone caught with a small amount of Hashish could have found himself in the local soccer stadium that ISIS had converted into a prison and torture rooms.
A tour at the improvised prison reveals countless bullets on the floor, writings and drawings left behind by the prisoners (some of them ISIS fighters who were thrown into jail for committing a crime), and especially a general atmosphere of darkness and depression.
My trip to Syria after the ISIS era was no doubt a fascinating experience, but it seems that like the situation in Iraq, even after the fall of the Islamic state, there is still a long way to go until we will witness a democratic and free society emerging here.
Cannabis legalization, in any event, will certainly not occur here in the next few years.
Originally published in Weed World Magazine issue 136
