The Story within the Story… Are we spending state monies to create criminals?

May 27, 2018 News

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By Leonard Gildarie

On Friday, a Florida ban that prevents medical marijuana patients from smoking the stuff went up in smoke.

Leon County Circuit Court Judge, Karen Gievers, ruled that the ban on smokable cannabis is unconstitutional, according to an Associated Press story.

Florida’s Department of Health said in a statement it has appealed the ruling, which will impose an automatic stay.

Gievers wrote in her 22-page ruling that Floridians “have the right to use the form of medical marijuana for treatment of their debilitating medical conditions as recommended by their certified physicians, including the use of smokable marijuana in private places.”

In other words, the world as we know it has changed dramatically over the last 20 years.

Tolerance, outside-of-the-box thinking, liberalism…you name it, and it is the conclusion that everything has changed.

Should we remain stagnant while the world zips by us?

On Monday, a routine day in the court saw a small case being heard before a city magistrate. On any other day, it would have been another case, but not this one.

Carl Mangal, a resident of Lodge and father of a young baby, was charged for possessing just over eight grams of marijuana.

Pleading guilty, Mangal had little idea, it seems, of the fate that would befall him and the waves he would make.

He was jailed for three years. The amount of marijuana that Mangal was found with, I am told, is just enough to make two spliffs.

The man’s shocked family reportedly did not take it lightly – his young wife even attended court with their baby.

It is obvious the magistrate sensed that this was no routine matter. She told the upset family that her hands were tied, the law prescribes the sentence and she had given the minimum. Not usual for a magistrate.

Mangal could have received up to five years.

Kaieteur News published the story on the front page of its Tuesday’s edition.

It naturally created widespread anger, with critics loud on social media in their condemnations. The letters to the editors flowed.

I was angry on Tuesday and started preparing to call a few lawyer friends of mine and bullying a few families to help with legal fees for an appeal when I read that activist Mark Benschop, who is in the US, had asked attorney-at-law, Nigel Hughes, to handle the matter.

Hughes took the case pro bono (no fees) and on Thursday filed an appeal. He is known to take cases like this.

I like to go with my gut feeling. And it is telling me quite a few things.

If I were a betting man, I would wager that the Mangal case will resound in the years to come. His case will bring changes.

The voices are loud that our laws are archaic. We must and have to adjust our guidelines with regard to the sentencing policy.

The world is moving to relax its stance on marijuana for medicinal and recreational use.

Several states in the US are allowing, under strict conditions, persons to legally grow marijuana. Other parts of the world are moving in the same direction.

I am strongly against any moves at this time to legalise marijuana in its entirety.

We just don’t know enough. We have little support organizations.

We know that sellers are dealing with marijuana which may have been planted and harvested in unsafe conditions. Maybe pesticides and other harmful chemicals were used. We know that some smokers would mix it with cocaine and other drugs.

I know of families torn apart.

I saw kids who went to top schools and even journalists who suffered.

Almost every other person I know has tried marijuana, including women.

The fact is that many locals believe in the medicinal value of marijuana. I know of one doctor who recommends marijuana for some ailments.

For Rastafarians, marijuana is a way of life.

The Alliance For Change (AFC), the smaller partner in the Coalition Government, said it is preparing to take amended legislation for lighter sentencing, fines and other alternatives, to the National Assembly.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo is willing to back similar law changes, but not legalization.

Government’s stance is that it will wait until AFC parliamentarian Michael Carrington takes it to the National Assembly.

I have always been railing about the need for our politicians to leave politics outside the door when it comes to matters of national importance. This is one of them.

And it makes me happy. We are maturing as a nation, albeit slowly.

This is a conscience vote, our parliamentarians are saying. And it will be passed.

Carrington, who tabled amendments to the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act since 2015, told reporters at a Press Conference that it makes economic sense for the state to move towards rehabilitation.

“The only persons benefitting from those people going to prison are the lawyers. The lawyers make endless money, from $100,000 to $500,000. The State loses terribly. The State loses in terms of spending a lot of money to keep them inside the prison,” Carrington stated.

These are words that drive home the idiocy of the outdated law.

Carrington explained that the family also loses when someone is imprisoned for a small quantity of marijuana.

“I basically do not believe that you should be jailing a person for just 8 grams which might cost $1600 and then spend $1 million to take care of them for three years,” Carrington explained.

The parliamentarian is calling for heavy fines instead.

I agree with this direction. You hurt a man’s pocket, he will not forget easily.

Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, who has responsibility for prisons, pointed to the Patterson Report on the Camp Street Prison which showed that inmates were becoming hardened smokers.

In recent weeks, inmates posted a photo to Facebook that showed a Mother’s Day party behind bars with marijuana and alcohol.

“The truth is out that even when they’re not smoking it outside; they go inside there [the jail] and have parties with the marijuana and the contraband,” Ramjattan stated.

These are words from the Security Minister.

Why should we continue on a path like this?

I heard on Friday a man got jailed for possession of a drug smoking utensil.

We have robbers walking out of remand, immediately going back to their way of life, yet we send people to jail for marijuana they are smoking?

If that is not bad in itself, how about the world figures involving cigarettes and alcohol?

We all know that despite new tobacco laws, it is easy to buy cigarettes, said to be one of the worst killers. We all know that drunk drivers have killed many.

What are our arguments on marijuana? Does it have medicinal value? Can we make some money by making it legal in some ways? Are we sending our youths to jail for something that costs $2,000 and then spend millions more to create criminals?

It will be agreed that the status quo must not be allowed to remain. The ball is in the court of our lawmakers.

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