I take the same position as Ayinde on marihuana, I am yet to witness first-hand any positive effects of smoking the plant, but I have witnessed negative effects similar to what he describes. I smoked it once, at a friend's farm. I was sitting on the tractor, and asked someone why we were going up and down the hill. The tractor was actually stationary at the time. It seemed to me then that using marihuana was the same as drinking- which I abhor-because it alters one's perception and consciousness. So, I never touched the plant again.

And yes, I suppose if people want to smoke it, they should. Just not in my house.

I also feel that there is an emphasis on smoking weed that has put across the wrong image of Rastafari, to the extent that any hippy off the street can call himself a Rasta soley on the basis that he is chuffing away on spliff.

But I was struck by your mention of parents getting their children committed to the funny farm. This sort of thing has been happening in Zimbabwe, somthing that is yet to be documented. This is after sending them to the police to get whipped, or to the pentecostal churches for an exorcism has failed. The problem is that in all the cases that came to my attention, it was not just a matter of a young person renouncing his Christian background and embracing the Rastafarian Faith, but the use of marihuana was a factor.

Of course, in Zimbabwe, a lot of people smoke it, right up to- it is said on the street- to the highest echelons of State. Some claim that the local word "mbanje" is a bastardisation by the Europeans of "mupanjere" ("Giver of Wisdom")Well, I would like to see any actual evidence of that wisdom given the present wretched state of not just the Rastafarian community, but the entire country.