Re: Hazia

From: Grimmund <grimmund_at_1mRnlB32DtJTdJQVVNwAN9OK2MXZSbBQALjBKTDkMGIbtr-I13iMeprFWhM2-NH2Pru>
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:17:59 -0600

On Nov 16, 2007 6:10 PM, Alison Place <alison_place_at_4ClAiGyBrUSHxSufo1mvmN8mkW6vXY5eXRITZ8QglLNMus-AHo-GTKQZmE1v4J47C6p28Ttnj3PTAbulSg.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
>
> Hell, even
> high-tech attempts to kill poppies and coca haven't
> exactly been successful, so the Lunars haven't any
> real hope.

Wandering slightly afield-

Killing the poppy, canabis, or cocoa plants isn't all that much of a problem. The real problem is keeping people from replanting them as soon as the crop police move on.

"Then he [rode] away
We just smiled and waved
Sittin' there on that sack of seeds"

   -http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/jim_stafford/wildwood_weed.html

The problems are that:

1. The plants are lucrative, when the rest of the economy isn't.
2. People who want the income keep replanting the plants.
3. Economics creates political limits on what actions can be taken to control the crop. The immediate cost or effort is bearable, but the long-term negative consequences outweigh the gains. This is particularly true with cocoa, which also produces cocoa beans to make chocolate.

If social or cultural pressure limits the use of hazia only as part of a religious ceremony then the supply doesn't have to be very big to be sufficient. The occasional plant, growing in the garden, ditch, window box, wild plot, whatever, is sufficient to meet demand.

If, on the other hand, it's a commonly used item, and a lucrative crop, (like tobacco) then you're going to see small plots of the stuff all over the place.

 If it's illegal, or regulated, you won't see the fields, but they'll still be there, either the hazia plot hidden out of sight, or the hazia crop mixed in with other crops

Donald wrote:

>I'm doubtful that it is illegal throughout the
>Empire - there are too many cultures which
>would regard it as acceptable or tolerable.

It could still be illegal, but enforcement of that particular law lax, unless someone gave the law an excuse to drag that one out and punish trafficking or use. As long as the hazia vendor is a local, and discrete, it's ignored, but if an out-of-towner were to arrive with a wagon load, they'd be arrested. Likewise, as long as you smoke at home, and are a "quiet drunk", nobody cares.

G

-- 

"Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash, and I am delighted to say
that I have no grasp of it, whatsoever!"  - Baron Munchausen