The penalty for small amounts of marijuana must be reduced

Aug 31, 2017 Letters

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Dear Editor,
On the fateful day Wednesday 20th of August 1823 over 200 of our ancestors were massacred at Bachelors Adventure on the East Coast of Demerara, many of those enslaved Africans came from plantations that stretched from Mahaica to Le Ressouvenir on the East Coast of Demerara.
The scars of the atrocities committed against our foreparents are very much noticeable unto this day in the community of Bachelors Adventure that was abandoned by the colonial Government as a result of our ancestors’ action against the evil system of slavery.
This all changed when the Government of Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham came to power in 1964, our community was inspired by great leadership, we were encouraged to pave our mud dams through self-help labour with material assistance coming from the Government, from our vantage point we watched the Estate communities flourish where dwelled the planter class who stole our back lands after our forefathers would have pooled their resources to purchase villages.
The African village movement was born out of the struggle of our ancestors. Our young people must be taught the characteristics that embodies this noble movement, we must no longer be subjected to racial discrimination that until recent times plagued our communities, we must at all times be prepared to defend the gains of the revolution. We dug the canals and conservancies with our bare hands we are the architects of drainage and irrigation across all Guyana’s coastal region, we erected the sea defences, we were the early educationist and health workers with our traditional knowledge of medicine, we were the midwives and doctors, we excelled in the legal system and opened up the mining industry through pork knocking.
The time has come for us to reflect on our past and where we are today, as a people we have become very careless, carefree and uncooperative in our communities with a serious dependency syndrome taking a grip of our young people all waiting for the Government to do everything for them while they are consumed in spree and party while disregarding social, cultural and economic responsibilities.
Our young people must take pride in the way they dress or they will always be shut out from the mainstream of economic activity in this prosperous nation, we must all become pioneers for Hinterland development, there must be a resurgence of National Service. Parents must be prepared to stand up against these unwelcomed habits of dressing and bleaching our skins which causes skin cancer. Let us remain black and proud we are all blessed.
A large percentage of our young people show no respect for elders, there is a moral decay that is eating away at the core of our villages resulting in serious under development. Literate villages and towns will at all times prosper agriculturally, industrially and commercially. Illiteracy will foster poverty, crime and violence this we must be mindful of, our fore fathers laid down their lives fighting for the liberation of today’s generation, and it is through laying down their lives that the Emancipation of slavery became a reality on the 1st of August 1834. Let not their struggle be in vain; let us rekindle the spirit of the early African village movement which was founded on cooperatives.
Let me take time to emphasize the importance of education in empowering individuals, building strong families, liberating communities and ensuring a prosperous nation where all can enjoy that good life. We can learn from the developed world with their many institutions of learning that promote Agro industry, information technology and most of all a green economy.
The plight of our young people regarding unemployment, poverty and crime must be addressed through Research and Project Implementation at the community level. Sports and cultural activities helps to positively mould the character of young people and eliminate the high incidence of mortality caused by non communicable diseases, through lack of physical activity at the community level our population is highly obese , we need a body that can adequately ensure that our playfields all across the country are always in good shape, once this happens the residents will ensure there is always organized sports and cultural activities, crime will be at its minimal, there will be better community relationship and residents will look out for one another, our people will slowly and surely get rid of behaviours that promote ethnic divisions.
Those new housing schemes that were built under the previous administration are mainly without sports and cultural facilities, communities need community centres and playfields this is the basis on which progressive communities are built, this is how deviance is addressed among youth.
Too many of our young people are ending up in prisons for being in position of small amounts of marijuana, that law which came forcefully into being with the Desmond Hoyte administration has turned innocent young men and women into a life of crime in an overcrowded prison that offers no sound rehabilitation program. I therefore call on the Government to address these punitive measures for small amounts of marijuana.
Ras Aaron Blackmam

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