BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NOT only is he convinced that the economic benefits constitute more than enough reason for the government of St. Kitts-Nevis to decriminalise marijuana, but he has explored the medicinal properties that it possesses as another reason for the move to be made.
Over the past couple of months, Washington ‘Washie’ Archibald – a popular social commentator, educator and historian – has been one of the main agitators for cultivation, possession and traffic of cannabis to be legalised.
And in this latest article, the medicinal benefits of marijuana use would be highlighted.
According to Archibald, marijuana “has a reputation – especially in Jamaica – that it could be used for medicinal purposes. People in Jamaica give their children marijuana to cure wheezing. I’ve known people who grew up in Jamaica who claim that their parents gave them weed or its by-product.
“Other people – those in St. Kitts – claim that the use of marijuana can cure or arrest the problem of glaucoma. They claim it is good for the eyes, they claim it is good for asthma and it is also good – doctors I think have agreed – that the use of marijuana is a useful pain killer for chronic and painful diseases. People who suffer from those diseases use marijuana to kill the pain.”
The Cancer Council NSW suggests that “some substances in marijuana (cannabis) may be helpful for treating nausea caused by chemotherapy and for treating pain that is not relieved by conventional medicines”.
It notes however that “smoking is not a good way to take any medication because carcinogenic substances are inhaled into the lungs. More research is needed to develop other ways of administering the active ingredient of marijuana for medical use”.
Claims have also been made that marijuana could cure or lessen the effect of respiratory diseases, anorexia, depression and epilepsy and, according to Archibald, he believes that there are those within the Federation who give marijuana – in boiled form – to their children to either prevent or combat a number of childhood diseases.
“Some people use it for drinking, for instance in Jamaica – and I believe in St. Kitts too – the Rastafarians who have children give their children boiled marijuana to drink because they claim that it not only cures some of these childhood diseases but it prevents the children from getting the diseases.”
In the United States of America, cannabis is illegal but some states – approximately 17 - have enacted legislation which provides for its use for medicinal purposes.
Archibald explains that this is a window of opportunity for St. Kitts-Nevis, in that should use of the substance be decriminalised, locals could benefit from its medicinal properties and it could be exported to countries which have already decriminalised the use of the drug.
The educator – who seems passionate about the issue – has suggested that the powers that be had made a grave mistake – initially – in outlawing the cultivation, possession, sale and use of marijuana.
He has invited persons who may not share his views on the legalisation of the illicit substance to engage him in a national discussion during which all angles of the topic could be ventilated.
