I appeal to all Guyana – please stop this cruelty

Aug 20, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Two days, I repeat, two days after a young man was remanded to prison for possession of an instrument (please note; an instrument) for smoking marijuana, Eric Holder, the Attorney-General for the US announced wide-sweeping reductions in the sentencing guidelines for possession of marijuana and similar banned drugs.
Mr. Holder was pellucid in his pronouncements. He said many youths were destroyed because of the mandatory minimum sentences for light possession and usage of drugs like marijuana. Mr. Holder went in a far direction when he said that if the drug possessor has no connection to traffickers and cartel organizers, the mandatory minimum sentence will be reduced. Mr. Holder emphasized that the changes will begin right away.
I am a human rights activist first and foremost. I would say that I am a father secondly, a husband thirdly, and then an academic, in that sequence. I further state that in my philosophical mind, I believe that we in this country have gone back to hundreds of years ago when primitive values reigned, when we jail young people for the mere possession of a utensil that drug users employ when they are smoking pot.
If any magistrate remands any of my close friends or relatives for possession of such an item, I swear on my parents’ souls I will picket their home and office every night and day. I will gladly run the risk of being arrested. This is a promise to some of the backward magistrates we have in this country who in the first place should never have acquired a law degree. The narcotics law allows for bail in drug charges. Why are magistrates remanding your men for mere possession of a smoking utensil?
What went through Desmond Hoyte’s mind when his Attorney-General, Keith Massiah, allowed such a clause in our anti-narcotic legislation? I know Mr. Massiah well and for some esoteric reason, I have never asked him why he did such a silly thing. But let’s move to President Desmond Hoyte. In order to get support for his Economic Recovery Programme (ERP), Mr. Hoyte was willing to comply with anything the Americans asked him, and the draconian anti-narcotics law was one of them.
A few Guyanese scholars told me that they suspect that Hoyte was inherently colonial-minded and didn’t really care for African people. My excellent friend, Tacuma Ogunseye told me that he believes the middle class African leadership in Guyana is psychically weak when it comes to its relationships with the white world. How for more than twenty-six years can we retain a law that destroys sons, husbands, brothers, fathers by jailing them for possession of a smoking utensil?
The magistrates would argue that they have no manoeuvring space because the law is clear. But the law also allows for bail. Why was bail not granted in this case? I could remember doing more than six, yes, six essays over twenty years in the Freddie Kissoon Column on this bestial mistreatment of Guyanese youths.
Let us now look at the changes in legal attitudes to marijuana around the world. Small amounts have been decriminalized. In other words, it would be asinine to arrest someone for mere possession of a utensil, when you can use that item to smoke a little bit of pot. We go through the list alphabetically- Argentina; Belgium; Brazil – illegal but tolerated by police and security forces without charges; Cambodia; Costa Rica, Croatia; Ecuador; Czech Republic; Estonia; France – illegal but usage is permitted for medical purposes; India; Italy; Mexico; Nepal; Netherlands; Pakistan – only in certain circumstances but one cigarette is accepted; Peru, Portugal; Spain; Sweden – illegal but police do not charge small users; Switzerland; Unites States of America – illegal at the federal level but decriminalized in fourteen States.
Important to note that the country where it should be legal, youths go to jail all the time. We are talking about Ethiopia. I once told a Rasta guy outside Stabroek Market that it was silly for Ethiopia to ban any amount of marijuana. He became angry, “Freddie, Freddie, “Yuh kyaan insult meh religion, maan,” he yelled out. He moved menacingly towards me; “Humble yuh stupid self, Freddie talking de truth, listen and yuh gun learn something maan,” was the shouts that came from a group of young men.
Will our 65 Parliamentarians amend Mr. Desmond Hoyte’s incredible primitive anti-narcotic law? Are they really interested in doing so? Why should they do that when they are dealing with incredibly stupid people that will vote for them anyway?

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I appeal to all Guyana – please stop this cruelty

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