Global Voices » Egypt: Hashish Crisis adds to Nation’s Woes

Egyptians have been suffering lately from lack of bread, fuel, and bottled gas for cooking. But lately they have been hit by a more severe crisis, which is the lack of the narcotic Hashish ^[1] (cannabis). Although weed, and drugs in general, are prohibited by the Egyptian law, it seems that is has been widely used all over the country, and such a crisis is effecting many people.

Wahda Masreya, wrote here ^[2] about the hash crisis and how she thinks it's really effecting the Egyptian citizens:

و في رأي إن أزمة الحشيش تعد الأصعب و الأقوى على شعب مصر حيث أن نظام القمع و القهر لم يترك للمصريين إلا الحشيش يدخنونة لينسوا به مشاكلهم و أزماتهم و عجزهم و ضيق الحال

In my opinion, the weed crisis is the most severe crisis compared to the other ones. The oppression of the regime left no other choice for the Egyptians but to smoke weed in order to forget their problems, inabilities, and poverty.

She then described why people smoke weed, and how it is common among different classes and communities. She writes:

لست من مدخنى الحشيش او أي مكيفات لكن
تعرفت على الكثييرين من كل الأطياف و الألوان و أدركت اهمية الحشيش في حياتهم فمنهم من يدخنة ليلا و منهم من يدخنة قبل الإياب للعمل حيث ينسية منظر أم المدير و القرف و البروقراطية و المرتب اللي زي الزفت و المواصلات اللي بيتدبهدل فيها فكان الحشيش هو الحل الأمثل و عرفت من يأكل الحشيش ولا يدخنة حتى قبل أن يواجة زوجتة و أسرتة بطلابتهم التي لا يستطيع الإيفاء بها

I do not smoke weed myself, or any other drugs. But I know many people from all classes
of the society who do and I know how important it is to them. Some smoke weed at night, while others smoke it in the morning before going to work to be able to forget their managers nastiness, the bureaucracy, the low salary, and the humiliation they suffer in finding transportation to and from their work. I know others who eat it instead of smoke it to be able to handle their wives and children's endless needs that they cannot fulfill.

She ended her post saying:

الازمة حقيقية و حرجة و ربما يستطيع عالم إقتصاد ان يذكر لنا مدى تأثير تلك الأزمة على الإقتصاد المصري ؟
مع كل ذلك و مع خالص تعاطفي كمصرية صميمية و إدراكي لمعاناة المحشيشين المصريين في كل مكان إلا أنني لا أنكر ساعدتى من أن أخيرا يا مصريين “حنخلي الدماغ صاحي”

The crisis is severe, and may be we need economists to find out how it is going to effect the Egyptian economy.
Although I am sympathetic with the Egyptians and feel their pain everywhere, but I cannot deny my happiness that finally the Egyptians will wake up.

Whazzup Egypt, on the other hand, refused calling the issue a crisis ^[3], and wrote a new post in her blog commenting on Max Strasser's article in TheFasterTimes where he called it “Egypt’s Great Hash Crisis of 2010 ^[4]“.

I wouldn't think that lack of availability of an illegal substance could be termed a crisis. But this writer seems to think so and has a perspective on the issue.
He sums his article up by saying “Life is difficult for most people here. Let them get stoned.” – and that's not in the Biblical/Quranical sense :)

Finally, the crisis was surprisingly discussed openly in main stream media ^[5], and many Egyptians made use of online web forums ^[6] to market the hash they own.