Jailing people for a few grams of marijuana is destroying lives

May 25, 2018 Features / Columnists, Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
I observed that the Alliance for Change (AFC) is now calling for the removal of custodial sentences when someone is arrested for small quantities of marijuana.
I do not always agree with the AFC because, like many others I know, I believe they allowed themselves to be sidetracked from their philosophy. However, despite my disenchantment with the AFC, I always stand for what is fair and right. In this case, I share their view.
The AFC’s stand on this matter and mine were triggered by glaring foolishness in our courts like the excessive sentence given to 27-year-old Carl Mangal this week. This father, who is gainfully employed as a poultry farmer, was sentenced to three years in jail for possession of just eight grams of marijuana.
Prior to that, a young man of East Indian descent and another one of African descent who was sentenced to three years suffered the same fate for possession of small quantities of marijuana. Mr. Mangal is a Guyanese of mixed race. It is therefore clear that the law is not targeting persons in possession based on their race. In fact, I think the justice system is well oiled and operates on a position of impartiality. However, it also appears that there is some inconsistency in sentencing.
I also recall reading the news that Social Worker Nicole Cole told the Regional Commission on Marijuana in November 2017 that the oldest person at the New Amsterdam Prison at that time was a 77-year-old woman who had been jailed for a few grams of marijuana stems and leaves that she used to make tea.
These amounts are so paltry that they do not even indicate that Mangal or the others are serious drug users, much less drug traffickers. So why are they subjected to such draconian sentencing?
Like the AFC, I am not questioning the decision of the magistrate, who is simply sentencing based on the provisions in the law, but it is madness to jail someone, in this case a father and a productive member of society, for a smattering of marijuana.
Check the news archives and you will see that in May 2016, long before Mangal’s case, a Bartica woman was fined and sentenced to two months of community service for possession of three grams of marijuana. What is behind this inconsistency in sentencing?
Furthermore, has the government ever done an analysis to determine the cost of accommodating a prisoner over a specified period of time?
It must be pretty expensive to clothe them, feed them, manage them and sometimes treat several prisoners for illness in one day, much less over the course of a year.
So, with that in mind, is it financially prudent to jail a productive member of society, a family person for a small portion of marijuana?
Our prisons are already overcrowded and have substandard facilities. This has resulted in slack supervision, riots, escapes and other troubles over the years, sometimes resulting in the deaths of prisoners.
The prisons are already loaded with hardened criminals, including murderers, rapists, hijackers, gangsters, thieves, not to mention criminals addicted to hardcore drugs such as cocaine. In fact, many crimes were committed by persons under the influence of dangerous drugs.
Now, imagine, a young man, who has never broken the law, who works and takes care of his family and whose only crime is being caught with a smattering amount of marijuana, being placed amongst such criminals.
What will be the outcome? Persons like Mangal are forced to learn to survive among hardened criminals. Their families are also affected because society castigates them.
The burden of meeting financial commitments and providing for their families, if they have, fall on one partner while they are serving their custodial sentences. The partner may not even be employed and survival becomes a real challenge, since we are not like developed countries where citizens can fall back on welfare.
When the offenders have served their sentences and they have been released, they face new challenges that they have never had to deal with before.
They now have to try to fit back into the society, which will most likely ostracise them. Getting a job would be hard now that they have a criminal record.
It is stupid for us as a nation to continue entertaining such sentences, because it is so costly to us all on many fronts: family life, employment and associated financial costs while the person is in jail.
Under that pressure, many might feel forced to commit new crimes when they come out of jail and cannot find jobs.
I am saying that in the long run, jailing someone for a joint can have far-reaching consequences that are more devastating than the effects the joint would have had on that person.
Wouldn’t it be wiser instead to consider non-custodial sentences for persons caught with a small quantity of marijuana? These persons can be sentenced to do community service, which would in fact be of far greater value to society, and they would have been penalized without incurring a prison record.
Alternatively, we can do what places like Harris County in the US have done. A person caught with up to four ounces of marijuana can avoid a prison sentence by committing to a four-hour drug-education class.
If they comply, the drugs are destroyed, and there remains neither an arrest nor court record. If they don’t, an arrest warrant will be issued and a regular criminal case filed with possible custodial punishment.
I hereby appeal to the Government of Guyana, inclusive of the Opposition to work together to change and adjust the laws to allow for persons who are held with a certain quantity of marijuana to attend classes and redeem themselves.
In these modern times, we have to look for mature solutions to some of our problems. This is just one solution that can be considered. I am sure we can come up with other solutions if we put our minds to it.
Roshan Khan Snr.

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