BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN response to a caller to his ‘Ask the Prime Minister’ programme on the decriminalisation of marijuana, Prime Minister of the Federation the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas advised that even if marijuana is used it should not be abused.
The caller entreated Dr. Douglas yesterday (Nov. 14) to “be considerate” and meditate on the idea of stripping marijuana use of its illegality. He said the imprisonment of persons for use of marijuana is “not fair”.
Dr. Douglas’ retort to the caller was that the decriminalisation of marijuana continues to be looked at, however, “at the moment, ganja is an illegal drug and when it is abused and it gets into the realm of the law enforcement, they have to deal with it because that’s what it is...it is illegal; it is on the law books.
“There are countries around the world that are studying the criminality and the whole system of criminology that surrounds ganja use and the caller is saying that he hopes for the day when the use of ganja would not (lead to) imprisonment”.
He cautioned that marijuana abuse could give rise to serious health risks and indicated that it is only when marijuana is abused that it becomes problematic for the users, whether those problems be health-related or law-related.
“I heard people say it’s the wisdom herb but it is a dangerous drug as well. Ganja – when abused – can unmask serious mental illness in the user.
“Of course, I believe those who may use it for their different purposes, for God’s sake…don’t abuse it. Once you get into the realm of abusing it, you are going to run into trouble, either you are going to get into trouble with the law or you would get into trouble with your own health. And that is why it is important if it remains outlawed until we have the answer to deal with the ganja problem.”
In recent months a debate stretching across the corridors of the Federation has waged on as to whether or not the government should decriminalise the use of marijuana - also referred to as weed, herb and ganja.
Persons for the movement have included historian and social commentator Washington ‘Washie’ Archibald and members of the Rastafarian community.
