Three out of three debates regarding the legalization of dagga, aired on a certain national news programme over the past couple of months, have strangely enough included a discourse on sugar. Sugar may be bad for us and may be at the root of certain ailments and illnesses (we have no problem accepting this as fact and should perhaps even pay closer attention to our own sugar intake), but sugar is by no stretch of the imagination comparable to an illegal drug like dagga.
We had previously dealt with the faulty reasoning behind trying to draw a comparison between two dangerous substances (cigarettes and alcohol and other illegal drugs versus dagga), yet here we go again and this time dagga is being compared with sugar!
To compare one substance which is dangerous in certain ways, with another substance that is also dangerous in its own right, proves nothing whatsoever. Dagga does not cease being dangerous, or even deadly, because sugar is alleged to be equally or more dangerous for human consumption. This simply proves, if anything, that sugar is also to be considered extremely dangerous for humans and should be avoided at all costs!
What we must all focus on here is that it is dagga that is under discussion and not how dagga shapes up when compared to a never ending list of other substances that are considered a threat! What are the dangers of dagga, how does it affect the body and the mind and how will it affect our society? This is as far as the discussion needs to extend. No comparisons are necessary whatsoever! Dagga is proven to be dangerous, we see evidence of this every day and sugar (or white pepper for that matter) has no bearing on this fact whatsoever! Perhaps the presenter of this programme is referring to ‘sugars’ (a street name for heroin in South Africa and which would make a lot more sense), yet it does seem that he is referring to just plain old sugar we put in our tea. Sugar will not destroy the minds and futures of our youth!
Sugar does not cause major handicaps to the careers and futures of those who use it while they are still in school! Sugar does not cause irreversible mental illness!
And neither will white pepper…
