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Govt. hemming and hawing on ‘marijuana amendments’ – Opposition

Aug 05, 2018 News

The debate over reduced sentences for small amounts of marijuana has died down and so too is the push to pass related legislation.
All of this come despite President David Granger’s openness to remove custodial sentences for possession of small amounts of marijuana.
“They [the Government] are hemming and hawing because they don’t want to move forward,” said Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, on Thursday.
The Alliance For Change (AFC), which is a member of the Coalition Government, has publicly indicated its support for non-custodial sentence for persons convicted on possession for small amounts of marijuana.
AFC Member of Parliament, Michael Carrington, had tabled amendments to the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act since 2015, but it has not reached the stage of a vote despite public support from the Opposition.
It is clear that the amendments will not see this session of Parliament, which goes into recess from August 10.
“They have their own problems so they are blaming us for it; saying that we have changed our positions privately,” Jagdeo outlined.
The Opposition stated that the party’s position has not changed. It is to allow each member to take a conscience vote on the proposed amendments when it is brought to the floor of the National Assembly.
“I am in favour of decriminalizing small quantities and giving the Magistrates greater flexibility so they can sentence people to community service; they can sentence them to rehab, but not lock away them for three years,” Jagdeo stated.
Government has indicated that it will incorporate the final report on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Commission on Marijuana.
Apart from the CARICOM report, the Government has done its own work through the Ministry of Public Health’s survey on the matter along with examining the sentencing guidelines on the possession of various sums of marijuana.
The pressure to change the law, which allows for automatic jail sentence for certain quantities of marijuana, was reignited in May when a 27-year-old farmer was jailed for three years by a city magistrate for just over eight grams of marijuana.
Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, has explained that the delay in moving forward with the 2015 proposed amendments was due to studies undertaken by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and CARICOM.
Other delays relate to the non-establishment of the Advisory Council and the Rehabilitation Fund for users who are processed by the court.

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