|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
Jamaica: Jamaica Leader Backs Idea of Decriminalizing Ganja
Reuters
Monday 27 Aug 2001 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jamaican Prime Minister Percival Patterson said on Monday that he found "persuasive" arguments for decriminalizing the private use of ganja, the local term for marijuana, or cannabis. A commission of inquiry in Jamaica has recommended decriminalizing ganja for private use by adults, for medicinal purposes or as a religious sacrament. Patterson, who is on a private visit to Washington, told reporters he wanted parliament to discuss the commission's report in the autumn and the government would then recommend whatever legislative amendments were needed. Asked what he thought of the report, he said, "I find the recommendations of the report persuasive." "I want to make it absolutely clear that we are not considering legalizing in the sense of making it legal for people to grow, to sell, to export. It is for private use, and, of course, it will have to be confined to adults," he added. Patterson said that as part of a decriminalization process, Jamaica would have to take some diplomatic steps because of international treaties and agreements it had signed. "That process we intend to begin shortly," he said. The United States, the main source of visitors for Jamaica's tourism industry, would see decriminalization as incompatible with a 1988 U.N. convention on drugs, and such a step could affect Jamaica's status under the annual certification process that Washington conducts, a U.S. official said. "Our view is that decriminalization is not in keeping with the 1988 U.N. Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, of which Jamaica is a signatory," a State Department official said. "The U.N. convention is our road map for international cooperation, and decriminalization would be seen as backsliding. This would factor into the president's decision for certification," added the official, who asked not to be named. Countries that fail to obtain certification they are cooperating against drugs are ineligible for U.S. financial aid, except for anti-drug and humanitarian programs. Patterson said Washington had not conveyed to Jamaica any formal views on the decriminalization proposals. He said the tourism industry in Jamaica had suffered in the short term from unrest in early July, when 25 people were killed in clashes between security forces and residents in the western neighborhoods of the capital, Kingston. "But we feel pretty confident that we will be able to overcome it (the decline in visitors) in the medium and long term," Patterson added.
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!