<B>By Deepa BHOOKHUN</B>

?Legalise cannabis!?, ?Hang criminals!?, ?Let us act in illegality for two more years!? Civil society, I guess, is waking up and trying to bring its contribution to issues affecting the community, offering opinions on various issues. Great! Except that the ?contributions? seem to be somewhat basic, petty almost. Does this say something about us, as a nation?

Legalise cannabis? Why the hell should we? Had the debate been on the issue of de-penalisation of the drug, at least we would be going somewhere. There is indeed a need to de-penalise the consumption of cannabis. Not to make it legal and encourage people to smoke dope, far from it.

But to ensure that we are not sending people to prison who have no business being locked up there. So that we stop wasting the dwindling state money on feeding them and looking after them in prison. So they could make themselves useful and do some community service that will actually benefit the country.

We can?t keep filling up our prisons the way public opinion seems to want to do. It is not healthy and instead of rehabilitating those who need to be rehabilitated, we shall be forming and training future criminals. Legalise? No way. De-penalise? Definitely.

Hang criminals? How is that going to help? Shouldn?t we be asking why people commit crimes? And treating the illness rather than injecting morphine just to get rid of the pain? People need to start thinking and asking themselves why the state should take up the business of killing people. They might come up with valid arguments. And then the real debate might start. Enough please of this numbing and idiotic reaction every time there is a heinous crime of just shouting ?Hang them!? Tell us why rather.

Give violators of the law and of decency a moratorium of two years to continue to violate the law? Have we taken leave of our senses? This country stinks of piracy. We shamelessly copy, without a thought given to the work behind a music CD, a DVD movie. And a considerable number of people in this country gladly condone this crime by openly buying those fake CDs and DVDs. Their argument? ?We can?t afford the genuine ones.? They are outraged that we dare question their dubious morality. Can?t afford? Then don?t buy for heaven?s sake.

Now the criminals are asking for time. Time to do what? Time to be served in jail? Oh but no, they do not seem overly worried, these law- breakers. We hear that the police will be closing in on the shops that sell fake CDs and DVDs but, wherever you go, you see outlets selling them. Waving their lack of respect for the law in your face, openly, without fear that the police will come and seize their stuff. I wonder why?

Mediocrity is the word. An unwillingness to think, to ponder about issues. We simply react every time something happens. We have perfected the art of not thinking. And of reacting in a primitive way. Way to go, guys?