This weekend’s weirdness comes all the way from Indonesia, where the police force are really good at seizing illegal drugs and not-so-good at disposing them in a responsible manner. In West Jakarta (born and raised, in Palmerah’s where I spent most of my days), police seized tons of marijuana, ecstasy pills, and crystal meth, then proceeded to burn it all in a massive bonfire.
Unfortunately, that massive bonfire combusted the cannabis and wafted through the town, getting the locals high. In defense of the police, how were they to possibly know that burning marijuana activates the compounds that deliver the psychoactive effects for which cannabis is widely known? It’s not like that’s common knowledge or anything.
Thankfully, a spokesperson for the country’s National Narcotics Agency assured everyone that inhaling the cannabis fumes would not result in any long-term health problems. So rest easy, West Jakarta residents! You were only temporarily hotboxed by your own police force, who I imagine could make things right by dispensing bulk quantities of eye drops and arem-arem to curb the hunger pangs.
