I am probably not alone in being a little surprised by the speed at which Thai authorities have performed a remarkable U-turn in their attitude to what is referred to variously as cannabis, marijuana, grass or, as it is most commonly known in Thailand, ganja. It wasn’t long ago that the merest whiff of the weed would result in people being hauled off to the slammer.
Now we have a situation in which the authorities appear to be actually encouraging us to grow the stuff and make money from it. It’s a funny old world.
Over the years I have sighed upon hearing reports of elaborate police raids on people smoking marijuana. It always seemed such a waste of time, money and resources when there were much more serious things to tackle.
The Thai populace hasn’t taken long to adapt to this unexpected liberal thinking and ganga products are appearing everywhere. You can’t escape them. In addition to it medicinal uses we are being treated to the weed in soups, curries, smoothies, teas, ice creams and probably even donuts.
I get the feeling it won’t be long before at restaurants we’ll have to specify whether we want dishes with or without ganja.
The lure of Mary Jane
The covert smoking of marijuana around the world has led to a large variety of euphemisms for the plant in addition to the common pot, grass or weed. It acquired so many names in the US primarily because it was illegal and it was necessary to use slang terms in a bid to outfox the cops.
There are hundreds of such names with the US leading the way with Mary Jane, Texas Tea and Wacky Backy among others. One of the more intriguing names is Devil’s Lettuce which apparently was used by Americans in the 1930s campaigning against what they felt was a demonic drug.
The autograph hunter
One widely publicised marijuana bust occurred in London in October 1968 when police, led by Sgt “Nobby” Pilcher, raided the flat where John Lennon and Yoko Ono were living.
Because Jimi Hendrix had been the previous occupant, Lennon had taken the precaution of ridding the flat of assorted “exotic substances” in anticipation of such a raid. However, police uncovered a small amount of cannabis resin discovered by two sniffer dogs with the unfortunate names of Yogo and Boo-boo.
Lennon was fined a nominal sum. After the raid Pilcher reportedly had the nerve to get Lennon to autograph two Beatles albums.
Semolina pilchard
Sgt Pilcher, who had made a name for himself by busting rock stars including the Rolling Stones and Donovan, was himself arrested a few …….
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2333998/the-green-green-grassing-over-of-home
