Jamaica

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LETTER OF THE DAY - Ganja should be taxed, regulated like alcohol

published: Thursday | January 18, 2007
The Jamaica Gleaner

The Editor, Sir:

Gwynne Dyer's January 12 column was right on target. There is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalisation. Switzerland's heroin maintenance programme has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic users.

Providing addicts with standardised doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the problems associated with heroin use.

Heroin maintenance pilot projects are under way in Canada, England, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organised crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations from addiction.

Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the ubiquitous advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of organised crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like cocaine.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol, it makes no sense to waste scarce resources on failed policies that finance organised crime and facilitate the use of hard drugs.

Drug policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to think the children are more important than the message.

For information on the efficacy of heroin maintenance please read the following British Medical Journal report: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/ ... 7/7410/310.

To learn more about heroin maintenance research in Canada please visit: http://www.naomistudy.ca/

I am, etc.,

ROBERT SHARPE, MPA

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

http://www.csdp.org

P.O. Box 59181

Washington, DC 20012

United States of America

rsharpe@csdp.org

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Medicinal marijuana could boost economies

published: Saturday | January 27, 2007
The Jamaica Gleaner
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (CMC):

A senior economics lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, has suggested that medical marijuana could be one of the new industries capitalised on by St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Speaking at the launch the National Development Plan here, Claremont Kirton said more needed to be explored into the area of the medical usages of the illegal drug.

"This is the kind of research that is needed where commodities we have at our disposal can become part of our new economic base," Kirton said, adding that marijuana had already been used in the development of treatments for glaucoma.

<span class=postbold>Validity of official statistical data </span>

He also questioned the validity of official statistical data, which he said captured only formal economic activity, stating that the Caribbean had a huge informal economy that included illegal industries.

"Could you imagine a country like Jamaica which has recorded negative economic growth yet Mercedes Benz and Lexus cars are all over and there has been no major economy triggered riot," he asked.

He said while the official statements suggested a bad economy, informal economic activities, including the illegal ones, continued to flourish.

Kirton told those gathered that they also needed to look into the possibility of revising old industries which, even though they may have ran their courses before, opportunities might exist for their revival, even if it was on a reduced capacity and significance in the scheme of things.

"This type of examination has to form part of the forward thinking even as new industries are explored," the academic said.

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'Ban smoking in public'

The Jamaica Gleaner
published: Friday | January 4, 2008


<table class=posttable align=right width=250><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg src=bin/elliott_herb.jpg></td></tr><tr><td class=postcell><span class=postbold>Dr. Herb Elliott (left), a member of the International Amateur Athletics Federation's Medical and Anti-Doping Commission, converses with Dr. Patrece Charles-Freeman (centre), head of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission and Donald Reynolds, president of the Rotary Club of Kingston, during the club's weekly luncheon, held yesterday at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.</span></tr></td></table>

Dr. Herb Elliott, a member of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) Medical and Anti-Doping Commission, wants the Jamaican government to ban smoking in public places, especially at sporting events.

"Smoking should be banned from public spaces, from restaurants and bars," Dr. Elliott, told reporters, yesterday, following the Rotary Club of Kingston's weekly meeting at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

Citing a case where an athlete had a positive reading for marijuana, after hanging out with friends who were smoking the substance, Dr. Elliott said a ban on smoking in public places would protect athletes and other members of the society.

No smoking in sporting arenas

"What we would like to see ... is to ban smoking in all sporting arenas. That way we will get rid of smoking and the marijuana," Dr. Elliott told the gathering.

Several European countries have banned smoking in public places. These include France, Italy, England, Sweden and Ireland.

Dr. Elliott said legislation to eliminate doping in sports would come on stream by the end of March and before the Olympics in Beijing, China, which would get under way in August.

He noted that the draft was before the Chief Parliamentary Council.

Under the legislation, he said, there would be three panels, the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission, which would pilot the programme, the Jamaican Anti-Doping Interdisciplinary Panel, and the Jamaica Anti-Doping Appeal Panel.

Dr. Patrece Charles-Freeman has been appointed head of the Anti-Doping Commission. Other staff members are to be announced at a later date.

"We have a doping society. Sports mirrors the rest of society. What is happening in sports is that there is a large amount of money involved in sports and, therefore,people looking for glory think they can get an edge on their opponent by taking something that will give them that edge," Dr. Elliott said.

Sanctions

He said the World Anti-Doping Agency and UNESCO sanctions would be used for athletes who violated the laws.

He said that bilateral arrangements would be established with the United States and Europe to test Jamaican athletes while they were in competition.

Dr. Elliott said Jamaica was expected to get a reduced price from a Montreal laboratory to test the samples at US$350 ($4,500) per test.

He told the gathering that the Govern-ment would spend more than $40 million in carrying out the testing programme this year, $20 million of which was already available.

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Spliff society: Jamaica considers calls to decriminalise use of ganja

<span class=postbigbold>Law reform could halt courts logjam - but the issues are not that simple</span>

Robert Booth in Kingston
The Guardian, Tuesday March 11 2008

<table class=posttable align=right width=300><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg width=300 src=bin/samuel_headley.jpg title="Rastafarian priest Headley Samuel holds a stem of marijuana."></td></tr></table>Rastafarian priest Headley Samuel holds up a stem of pungent marijuana and reveals his recipe for bliss: "Fast, breakfast, drink aloe vera and smoke ganja."

His routine, which he says takes him to "the highest spiritual realm", makes him a lawbreaker. But soon that may change. Jamaica, the largest producer of cannabis in the Caribbean, is considering decriminalising use of the drug.

A seven-member government commission has examined possible reforms of the nation's anti-drug laws, which some police complain clog up courts and jails with marijuana-related cases.

Possession of ganja, as it is known in Jamaica, can be punished with imprisonment. Some Jamaicans consider that disproportionate and a recent newspaper poll revealed that Jamaicans rate smoking above drinking as a way to wind down.

It is widely used, with fumes wafting from Kingston building sites and across bars. Quantities are openly for sale in parts of downtown Kingston for as little as 35p for a spliff.

A previous government-appointed ganja commission proposed decriminalisation in 2003. That was never acted upon because the government feared it would cause the withdrawal of their country's US anti-drug certification and trigger economic sanctions.

The new Jamaican Labour party government, which took power last year, has decided to think again.

"We are happy to know this has not been forgotten," said Paul Burke, president of the National Alliance for the Legalisation of Ganja. "It would release the police from the bind of an unjust and an unenforceable law.

"If you go to a football match in Jamaica, it is smoked with impunity. Ganja should be allowed to be smoked in people's private residences and everybody should be allowed a certain amount and should be allowed to grow some stems in their own area."

The drug is revered by Rastafarians who believe a verse in Psalms which says God "causeth the grass to grow for cattle, and the herb for the service of man" gives them the right to defy the law. But thousands more use it as a recreational drug and cultivation has increased following the recent crackdown on cocaine trafficking.

The western slopes of the parishes of Westmoreland and St Elizabeth produce the most coveted varieties. There the crop, which grows to two metres, is hidden from the police and army among sugar cane fields.

"I don't see why the government tries to fight it," said Verona White, 49, a mother of six children and an orthodox Bobo Rastafarian. "Anywhere water catches in Jamaica, it grows. Doctor, lawyer, everybody takes it. I went to see a pastor in St Ann's parish and he told me he couldn't preach without it."

Another Bobo rasta, priest Emmanuel Moses, 56, made more outlandish claims for its powers.

"It drives away Aids and diseases like that," he said. "It's a medicine for the world. It's not a drug. Herb is herb."

However, the review is unlikely to propose a complete liberalisation, according to consultees. Allowances for use at home and small-scale cultivation could be offset by bans on smoking in public places and educational campaigns to discourage children from taking the drug.

There is a strong lobby from conservative sections of Jamaican society who object to passive ganja smoking and doctors have urged the government to produce public information campaigns explaining the side effects, particularly on mental health.

Dr Rosemarie Wright-Pascoe, president of the Medical Association of Jamaica, said the review had partly been triggered by research showing an increase in the use of marijuana among children and concern at the increasingly open use of the drug in public places.

British government officials in Jamaica, concerned at the failure of police to prevent organised crime and cocaine trafficking which causes violence on Britain's streets, said decriminalisation could free up the criminal justice system for fighting more serious crime. But it is not a simple equation.

"Jamaica, sadly, is a world leader in the cultivation of marijuana and one of the big problems in the country is the ganja-for-guns trade with Haiti," said Brendan Gill, the senior political secretary at the British high commission.

"The guns come into Haiti from the US and then they find their way here. Legalisation might entrench the power of the dons and gangs who are already using marijuana to bring in guns."

<span class=postbigbold>Local guide to ganja varieties</span>

<span class=postbold>Colly herb</span> Dry, brown variety with a fresh taste. Considered a basic and relatively mild variety

<span class=postbold>Indica Strong</span>, cross-bred variety which grows well in Westmoreland. Related to skunk, with a sticky consistency

<span class=postbold>White Rhino</span> and <span class=postbold>White Ice</span> Strongest Jamaican varieties, fertilised with bat droppings and fruit

<span class=postbold>Lambs Bread</span> "Gummy" variety with a flat, broad bud that smokers say resembles a slice of bread. It packs a strong punch

<span class=postbold>Cotton</span> and <span class=postbold>Thyme</span> Varieties with soft, small and tender buds which thrive best on the sunny, west-facing slopes of the parish of Westmoreland