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Jamaica: Senate to continue discussions on ganja, flexi week

Dionne Rose

Jamaican Gleaner

Saturday 15 Apr 2006

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FIVE JOINT select committees of the Senate will be reconvened during the
legislative year to conclude deliberations on various matters.

Among them are the National Commission on Ganja, which has been meeting
for more than two years and the committee considering the long-awaited
flexible work arrangements.

On Thursday, new Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Senator
A.J. Nicholson, passed a resolution to have the committees reconvened.

In 2001, Professor Barry Chevannes who headed the Commission on Ganja,
recommended that the Dangerous Drugs Act be amended specifically to
allow, without possibility of criminal sanction, the private use of ganja.

PROPOSALS

The Chevannes Commission also recommended that the use of ganja for
religious purposes be recognised as lawful, and suggested, among other
things, that ganja use by children should remain legally prohibited.

The range of proposals made by the Chevannes Commission was considered
by Parliament in 2003, and although there appears to have been fairly
broad support for some types of amendment to the law, the Dangerous
Drugs Act has remained unchanged.

Parliament has been slow in making legislative changes for a variety of
reasons, but perhaps the most important of these concerns the question
of international laws.

Flexible work arrangements have been under consideration since July 2000
when a 12-member committee was appointed and charged with the task of
addressing the complex issues involved in implementing flexi-time locally.

CONCERNS RAISED

Members of the committee were drawn from parliamentarians, the trade
unions and employers' organisations, but the groups over the years have
failed to arrive at a consensus on the matter.

The concerns raised included that flexi-work would affect family life,
that it would cause people to lose their day of worship, and that
flexi-work would make each day of the week a work day.

The other committees to reconvene are the Local Government Reform
Committee, the committee considering how well the Access to Information
Act 2002 was working and the Standing Orders Committee to consider
making amendments to the Senate prayer.

 

 

 

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