As US President Barack Obama's recent comments on marijuana [1] reignite the liberalization debate across the world, including in Kyrgyzstan, a Kyrgyz scholar offers a non-mainstream explanation for the decriminalization of marijuana in a number of countries. In a blog post on kloop.kg, Dr. Rustam Tukhvatshin claims [2] [ru] that legalization helps governments control protest movements:
…People's addiction to [marijuana] is very convenient to politicians because the addicted individuals will never criticize them. Such people will view any policy decision made by politicians through a marijuana smoke screen, joyfully and complacently.
Most often individuals [addicted to the drug] belong to the discontented strata, and the legalization of marijuana renders these strata [unimportant]. Unfortunately, people who use marijuana are only a step away from experimenting with stronger drugs such as heroin and LSD. This then enables the authorities to put such individuals on record and take measures against them, while society at large will never defend drug addicts. These are, in my opinion, the main reasons for decriminalizing marijuana…