Humans must be aware that in us dwell the truths of Circe, the mythical daughter of Atlas, sister of Calypso, popular in the saga of Homer’s Odyssey. When the warriors of Ulysses drank her potion they turned into pigs, rats, snakes, roaches and other life forms, Ulysses accused her of bewitching his men, she replied that they had only turned themselves into their true nature. Before the age of psychology, psychiatry and the study of social behaviour, an ancient Ethiopian witch had understood the dimensions of human nature. We can do worse than take stock of the impact of the Narco Siren and her impact on our values. We are probably unaware of the prevalence of mind-altering substances among the Amerindians. Marijuana came with indentured labour and became celebrated in our folk song… ‘Ganja mani yeah’, a possible reference to the Portuguese shop men who embraced the trade. Cocaine and other mind-altering substances have long been present in Guyana… in the late sixties, during the Hippie age. I was an early teenager when Pop-a-long was a feature on Durban Park, with our own copy-cat Hippie movement. That was where the Majorettes practiced; hockey and football was played there.
Back then living on the East Coast, not yet out of school, I remember the first addict, saw his antics with some amusement, unaware of the tragedy of what Nikky, a product of that Hippie experiment, had gotten himself into, Two songs resonate from back then, Swamp Dog’s ‘Sam Stone’ and Bobby Womack’s ‘Harry Hippy’… the grim lyrics meant nothing to our innocent consciousness, The movie Apocalypse Now stunned; it took a while to be understood. Though we knew of ‘Silver Bomb’ that turned girls on if you could get it into their drinks, that was still an ‘age of innocence.’ In the early 70’s girls of fifteen and sixteen didn’t go drinking and young men that age hardly had any money or passion for beer. But if you were not that sheltered you learned quickly. There was this guy called Jesus who ‘limed’ at Oasis on Robb and King Streets and other places on Main Street who sold the ‘stuff.’ Before the nineties narcotics was sold to folks with money. I know the son of a businessman, who had lost an eye, It was a few years ago I learnt from a school friend of his that he snorted cocaine in school during the late sixties and that was responsible for the damage to his eye, and possibly for his father’s hostility to him.
Guyana entered Independence with the burden of a border controversy with Venezuela. That contributed to stagnation and dependence on the traditional industries, In those days there existed the talent for a music industry, it never happened… most likely because of the subject matter that was too ideologically influenced. We were talking socialism back then. Music remained localized. With the Oil Crisis of the mid – seventies came hardships… kerosene and gasoline lines, food shortages. It was in the mid – seventies that the touted hydro breakthrough was lobbied against by Venezuela using the border controversy. Guyana lost its own financial investment in this project and the foreign investment it had engaged, things became harder, popular imported food items were in short supply, national debt rose. The fact that Guyanese – before slavery was abolished – were growing food and had a local menu fall back taste, helped…as did the National Service.
