The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction exists, according to its website, “to provide the EU and its Member States with a factual overview of European drug problems and a solid evidence base to support the drugs debate.” Which apparently includes posting what’s essentially a how-to video about making hash.
Not that we’re complaining. We share the pleasant surprise of VOC, a Dutch anti-prohibition organization that brought the video to our attention.
Amazing: EU agency releases instruction video on how to make hash, using traditional or modern techniques!@badlin @dwdd @HumbertoTan http://t.co/B90593Ar4d
— VOC Nederland (@vocnederland) October 21, 2016
The video is purely informational. It’s obviously not meant as an endorsement, but it also steers clear of the drug war-style propaganda that we so often see from purportedly science-based government agencies. Instead, it walks through various styles of hash-making, from traditional sieve-and-press methods through modern bubble hash techniques.
It’s hard to imagine the US agency on drug addiction, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA, posting a video of this kind about hash. Similar to the EU’s drug center, NIDA says its mission is to “advance science on the causes and consequences of drug use”—but you don’t have to look hard to find signs of the drug war, like its tacit endorsement of the idea that cannabis is a gateway drug. That claim has been used in states like Massachusetts to push back against cannabis initiatives despite evidence that legalization can actually help reduce prescription painkiller deaths and other overdoses.
So far the EU video, which was posted in May, has only about 2,800 views. And while YouTube commenters are notorious for assailing posters with harsh comments, the response so far has been positive.
“I didn’t know about the modern methods,” YouTube user Enrico Piazza wrote in a comment on the video. “Very interesting. I’m very happy the EU supports this kind of knowledge.”
We couldn’t agree more. #JustSayKnow