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Cabinet approves proposal to remove jail time for 30 grams of ganja or less

Jul 03, 2019 News

– Opposition objects, says Govt. illegal

After much debate, the Cabinet yesterday approved a proposal that there should be no more custodial sentences for persons who are found to be in possession of 30 grams of marijuana or less.
Cabinet’s decision will now be conveyed to Parliament where it will be further debated to make the amendments to the relevant laws governing the Narcotics Act.
Moreover, Cabinet stressed this new decision does not mean that the possession of marijuana is no longer an offence but, persons will not be sentenced to imprisonment as in accordance to the law.
According to Cabinet, based on a recent report by the Caribbean Community they gave this recommendation to support Rastafarians who require the usage of marijuana in their worship and sacrament.
However, the Opposition, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), issued a statement rejecting the decision made by the cabinet, highlighting that the Government is currently illegal and Cabinet should have already resigned.
The statement also questioned statements made by the then Minister of State, Joseph Harmon who said that the Cabinet was not operating since January 31, 2019.
Minister Harmon had said that, “There is a judgment of the Court that was made with respect to the Cabinet and that judgment is appealed, but we have not obtained a stay of the judgment as yet and, therefore, we have not held Cabinet meetings.”
Additionally, the opposition said that “The David Granger-led Coalition has had over four years to address the issue of removing custodial sentences for possession of small quantities of marijuana. It failed to do so.”
It goes on to say, “In May 2016, President Granger declared that: “This is not something that is a preoccupation of the Administration at the present time…I would not counsel the use of marijuana by young people or anybody.”
The Opposition closed their statement by highlighting that talk about removing the custodial sentence is just another broken promise by the Coalition Government.
Section 16 subsection 4 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act of Guyana speaks to the penalty for possession of narcotics.
According to subsection 4, under a summary conviction, a person should pay a fine of no less than $30,000 along with imprisonment for no less than three years nor more than five years.
It goes on to say that under an indictment conviction, a person should pay a fine of no less than $30, 000 or three times the market value of the narcotic, whichever is the greater, together with imprisonment for no less than five years nor more than ten years.

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