The biggest news on people’s minds in Egypt is not last week’s pro-democracy demonstrations in front of parliament during which some 90 people were arrested. It’s not Mohamed ElBaradei’s shakeup of the political scene. It’s not the president’s health, which remains ambiguous. It’s not even spiraling meat prices.
The biggest topic of conversation here in Egypt is the disappearance of hashish from the local market, a shortage that has become known, at least in some quarters, as “the hash crisis.”
In many ways Egypt is a very conservative Muslim society. But that doesn’t mean people don’t love to get stoned.
Official estimates put the number of hash smokers in Egypt at seven million, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the real number was much higher. It’s not uncommon to see the butcher in a local market smoking a fat joint while he takes a tea break. Cabbies will occasionally drive around Cairo’s congested streets with a little spliff held under the steering wheel. The smell of hash often drifts from the seats of the doormen who sit in front of Cairo apartment buildings.
It’s not only working class types who get high, either. Egypt’s Nobel Prize-winning novelist Naguib Mahfouz was rumored to partake on a regular basis. Wealthy, English-speaking Cairenes like to smoke. Even former president Anwar el-Sadat was well known to enjoy his hash pipe.
My favorite evidence of the ubiquity of hash in Egypt is that rolling papers are available at almost every cigarette kiosk and convenience store while rolling tobacco is almost impossible to find.
But over the past month or so, hashish has all but disappeared from this North African country. Nobody knows why.
Conspiracy theories-something of a national pastime-abound. Some people have told me that those who control the hash trade have created the shortage with the aim of raising prices. Other people suggest that the government controls the hash supply and everyone’s favorite intoxicant will reappear shortly before the elections in a few months, lulling Egyptians back into a stone complicity in time for President Mubarak’s party to steal another election.
Most likely, the disappearance of hash is due to a government crackdown. There was news of a major bust in Alexandria a few weeks ago and government officials have said in statements that the police are doubling down on their efforts to limit the supply of dope, the majority of which comes from abroad.
Whatever it is, it’s working. Nobody knows where to find any hash and when they can find it, prices are out of control. Some people have turned instead to the cheap weed known as bongo that is grown in the mountains of the Sinai. But this seedy, stem-y, shwag gives you a headache and a much more intense high than the pleasant mellowness of hashish. In short, it’s no substitute.
But in a country where more than twenty percent of the population lives below the international poverty line of less than two dollars per day, I have to wonder why the government bothers to deprive people of a national hobby that is deeply embedded in the culture. Will ridding Cairo’s streets of dope help to alleviate the overwhelming unemployment? Will making it hard to get high decrease the rate of illiteracy, which currently stands at about thirty percent? Will it help improve the status of women?
I have to wonder why the government bothers. Life is difficult for most people here. Let them get stoned.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user p.s.v.
Max Strasser
Max Strasser lives in Cairo and is an editor at an English-language newspaper. He did internships at The New Yorker and at Time Magazine’s Jerusalem bureau, and has worked as a research assistant for several best-selling journalists and authors. He is ...
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alibaba fuko mosssaod says:
are u a jew???????? lol
alibaba fuko mosssaod says:
what about Isreal ??? at least egypt are not killing childrean in gaza and not stealing other people lands !!!!
dan jones says:
Great article.
Mohammed says:
Egypt is killing children in Gaza by closing its border and participating in the Israeli siege! It steals land from Bedu and Nubi peoples.
Egyptian says:
@Mohamed: YA Araby ya garaby ya Mi3afin dont say a word about Egypt...you palis sold your land & your the biggest agents of Israel yourselves..you want Egypt to suffer because you are idiots..get lost..plus guess what ya roo7 tante, if you were to ever have a land named filistine 7at2atilo ba3d, in a big civil war, 7arb ahliya..we kolina 3arfeen..7ilo 3ana entom we arafkom!
Essam says:
Max Strasser,
I am not sure if this message will reach you, but after reading your article and being an Egyptian I found myself compelled to write a response on the article.
From your profile, I see you work as an editor for Al masry yom, and have worked for the New York times. I must admits it is pretty impressive however this article is just an embarrassing one for you and for the Almasry el youm newsletter. while I don't doubt your intelligence, I must question your judgement because it is just obscure. What reasoning is that. Since people live under poverty line, they should get stoned. How dose getting stoned elevate or even help in the slightest our economic situation. Hash was never part of the culture. Egyptian culture has always looked down upon drug abuse. Naming the elite in our nation and their drug abuse dose not make it part of the culture and dose not make its use as acceptable. Besides, the problems associated with drug abuse such social, psychological, spiritual, just consider the economic devastation that we go through because of drug abuse and lack of awareness. We are all aware of the problems that Egypt is facing since ancient days. I would have respected and appreciate this news be taken as positive initiative on the country (or the Gov) to help the economic rundown. I feel terrible that Almasry even allowed you to publish such an article.
Max Strasser says:
Essam: Thank you for your comments. I want to be extremely clear that anything published on The Faster Times is completely my own opinion and is not done with the knowledge or approval of Al-Masry Al-Youm. Also, I have unfortunately never worked at the New York Times.
roaldgold says:
I happen to think that the author is coming from a more realistic viewpoint by separating hash smoking from drug abuse. If this article was about heroin it would be a different story, but honestly hashish doesn't bring nearly the amount of "social, psychological, spiritual, and economic devastation" that other drugs do. I happen to agree with "Let them get stoned". It's better than let them smoke crack cocaine and inject heroin anyday.
rabidrabbi says:
Honestly people, this article has nothing to do with Israel. Why turn it into an Israel-bashing forum?
When I read the news in Israel we don't say, "Well, its all because of those damn Arabs." We've moved on because thats what you should all do to.
For Christ's sake this sounds like a bad breakup and the Palestinians are the embittered woman. Get over it!
hash_is_my_mind says:
i don,t know why government doing so they are killing innovation , creation and make life more mesrable
now i can,t still in my creative mode (my work is in electronics assemplying , repair )and that hash make me creative , innovative and pationt and release any stress to make me think outside the box of my troubles .
I,m not against israel , im not anti semitism , jews are real humans , we are not like them , can them help us in our mind crese?
Michael Israeli says:
whats the connection to israel?
We are suffering here as well since all of our hashish is coming from egypt. there is a great shortage in hash and it's sad for all of us... oh well ill be going to fertilize my plants with some pali shit :-)
Yotam says:
(update from Israel/Palestine)
no hash here for 2 weeks !!!
I hope in better times to smoke some Hashish with my Arab brothers from across the borders
Salaam...Shalom...Peace
Nadav says:
this lack of hashish is not only an egyptian issue, Israel also suffer from a lack of hashish.
ana haiba says:
ha! arab-jewish bonding over a sharved lack of hashish -- love it.
this was an interesting piece. I, like roaldgold, would have to agree with the conclusion: let them smoke hash! situation seems comparable to the usa's mostly ill-advised war on drugs.. that crackdown on marauajana and its petty dealers was superfulous, at best.
Evgeni says:
guys, this situation really can't go on like this... Ana you are so god demn right!!! let us smoke hash!!! let us bond over a nice juicy piece of hash and drop all the bullshit
!!!
yo egyptian guys!!! we love you, us here in israel have no problem with you guys what so ever, so why won't you all fucking grow up and stop blaming us for all of your own problems, and while youre at it, why wont you guys solve ours ass well... i gotta tell you guys... this whole country, that is Israel, has gone fucking mad, everybody smokes hash around here or at least they used to up untill a couple of weeks to a month ago... we are going nuts you guys gotta do something!!!
HAAALAAASSS!!!
(a cry out on behalf of the jewish nation to our cuisins, offerring you our sincerest sypathy to your crisis, may god be with you all and with us, may we all pass this rediculous period and smoke some hash together like the family we are supposed to be) salam aleikum!
dheeraj says:
The citizens of Egypt should not be surprised if far right-wing religious/political FANATICS in Israel and America try to characterize this youth driven DEMOCRACY movement as a fanatical Islamist movement in order to isolate and demonize Egypt.
Follow Latest Egypt News at http://www.infonary.com/egypt-news
eva says:
this was a truly interesting article, which was linked through jahan marcu's website.
Max, I used to work for The New Yorker Magazine, where you apparently interned. Just caught The New Yorker's Lawrence Wright on the subject of the Muslim Brotherhood on today's "Fresh Air" program on NPR.
I think the lack of hash is probably only a nominal factor in these more recent riots, then again, "for want of a nail" is a kingdom lost.
I have to add that your photo portrait is refreshingly non-New Yorker Magazine. Eustace Tilley, you ain't, and that's a compliment from me.
Golem Cannabian says:
Good article.What has israel to do with the cannabis consumtion in egypt? Or if the author is jew or not? People love to get stoned everywhere regardless what they are. Essam; egyptians get stoned and have sex, israelis get stoned and banging.
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When I read the news in Israel we don't say, "Well, its all because of those damn Arabs." We've moved on because thats what you should all do to.
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pmu says:
I am not sure if this message will reach you, but after reading your article and being an Egyptian I found myself compelled to write a response on the article.
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