This has been my longest running topic on this blog. The OG readers will remember. I started in 2011, and a lot of us feel it is gonna happen, it’s just a matter of time. We’ve done the hard part. The taboo is gone. Public opinion has shifted. Cannabis is no longer a dirty word in Lebanon — it’s a reality. People talk about it openly, joke about it online, and most importantly, no one’s pretending it isn’t being grown, sold, and used across the country.

What we haven’t done — and what we must do now — is ratify that cultural shift into real, urgent policy.

Because while we keep dragging our feet, young people are still getting arrested for minor possession. Farmers are still forced to operate in the shadows, paying off militias and middlemen instead of taxes. And the revenue? It’s not going to schools or hospitals. It’s going to Hezbollah. It’s going to cartels like Nouh Zaiiter’s. It’s funding weapons and conflict — in Lebanon, in Syria, and beyond.

We have a functioning government now. A cabinet. An executive branch. Elections coming up. There are no more excuses.

Why legalize cannabis cultivation and use right now? Four reasons:

* Economic urgency.Lebanon is broke. Legalizing cannabis and taxing it properly could generate millions in new revenue. We need every lira we can get — not just from international aid, but from sustainable, homegrown industries.

* Public safety and sovereignty.Keeping cannabis illegal only benefits armed groups and criminal networks. Legalization takes power away from Hezbollah-linked cartels and puts it back in the hands of the state. It also frees up law enforcement to focus on actual threats, not small-time possession cases.

* Justice and accountability.Our prisons are overcrowded with people whose only crime was smoking or carrying weed. Decriminalization is a first step toward fixing a system that punishes the poor and protects the powerful. Legalization gives us a framework to make that shift permanent.

* A ticking clock.The people currently profiting from the illegal trade will not give up quietly. They are already organizing, lobbying behind the scenes, and preparing to either block reform or co-opt it for their own gain. If we don’t act fast, we’ll be stuck with a fake legalization scheme that rewards the same actors we’re trying to disempower.

I made this video on my iPad a few years ago, it still stands:

The priority is clear: decriminalize cannabis immediately.

This isn’t radical. It’s common sense. No one should be thrown in jail, extorted, or dragged through court over a joint. Decriminalization is the bare minimum — and it's long overdue.

Then, we need a real plan to regulate cultivation — one that works for the people, not just the powerful.That means:

* Creating a transparent and accessible licensing process for current cannabis farmers — especially those in Bekaa and other marginalized areas — so they can transition from the black market to the legal economy without fear or bribery.

* Taxing the industry properly and using that revenue to invest in public services like healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

* Making sure the profits stay in the communities that grow the plant, instead of being siphoned off by armed groups or politically connected cartels.

Lebanon’s cannabis economy already exists. It's just illegal, dangerous, and captured by the wrong people. We can either keep pretending that’s not the case, or we can finally build a system that turns a black-market reality into a legal, regulated, and fair industry.

The culture has changed. Now the law needs to catch up.

Let’s get it done — before the same people who kept us in the dark for decades find a way to profit off the light.

I want to see ministers in the new cabinet take the initiative, and if they don’t, let’s see it in electoral platforms for the upcoming elections. This might be the best chance we get in a long time, let’s not waste it.

Gino's Blog is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.