DECRIMINALIZATION: With global discussions about the impact of decriminalization of the use of marijuana ongoing, UWI TODAY, sought expert analysis on the milieu.
“To decriminalise one illicit product does not end the potency of the illicit business model; what it will do is to create a new dynamic that will affect both the licit and illicit markets.”
By DAURIUS FIGUEIRA
From the outset it is necessary to indicate the difference between legalisation and decriminalisation of cannabis sativa (marijuana or ganja). Legalisation makes lawful possession of ganja for personal use with various ways devised to deal with the supply of the product for personal use. The US state of Colorado allows persons to grow their ganja for personal use whilst the US state of Washington does not allow this.
Legalisation brings state control, regulation and taxation into the supply and personal use of ganja as the state defines how much ganja at any instance qualifies for personal use. The production and supply to channels that are not state regulated is still illicit under the legalisation model.
Decriminalisation makes the production, sale and use of ganja products licit as long as this industry abides by the regulatory framework of the state. Under this model, the production and sale of ganja products will be no different from the tobacco and alcohol industries.
This model is viewed by some as the means to end the violence spawned by the illicit drug trade. Reality is that the lure of an illicit product is the profit margin generated to those who dare trade in this product. The value of the illicit product drives the violence, as the product must always be protected from predators by any means necessary. On the other hand, traders in illicit products are always driven by the need to discover or to create new illicit products such as designer synthetic drugs, because that is where they ensure sustainable super profits, especially in the globalised world of the 21st century. The current strategy also calls for the illicit use of licit products such as prescription drugs and tobacco products, backed up by counterfeit copies of licit goods. To decriminalise one illicit product does not end the potency of the illicit business model; what it will do is to create a new dynamic that will affect both the licit and illicit markets.
At present in the Caribbean there is no movement towards legalisation much less decriminalisation of ganja products and its use. Any move on the part of the Jamaican state to change its existing prohibition on the production and use of ganja products was met with a public statement of disapproval and alarm by the US Federal Government, but since then, in December 2012, it became legal to use ganja products for recreational personal use in the US states of Washington and Colorado. Any failure by the US Federal Government to apply prohibitionist Federal law to both states will be another potent indicator that the war on drugs is driven by political expediency.
Towards the end of 2012 the Government of Grenada publicly stated its hard line prohibitionist position on ganja products and use of these products. What is apparent in the Caribbean is the use of ganja plantation eradication exercises by governments of the Caribbean with or without the logistical support of the US to indicate their commitment to the war on drugs and their zero tolerance position on crime.
It is then necessary to understand the dynamics of the ganja markets that have evolved in the Caribbean in response to operational realities in the Caribbean and to the nature of demand in the markets of North America and Europe.
In the North Atlantic, the ganja culture movement has ploughed money into research and development of new varieties of cannabis sativa where gene pools of ganja from the world over are spliced to create varieties noted for specific characteristics, the most noteworthy being high potency. These varieties drive demand as it expands over time and the wholesale price of ganja mirrors the level of demand in North Atlantic markets. On these markets there are grades of product and the price varies with grade. Organic, high potency ganja in New York retails for US$600 per ounce when there is supply. Plantation grade sensimilia wholesales for US$600-$800 per pound when there is supply. Organic, high potency wholesales between US$3,000 to US$5,000 a pound when there is supply.
The Caribbean is then an offshore production platform for ganja supplied to the North Atlantic where the producers are linked to the latest developments of the globalised ganja industry. In addition there is a Caribbean ganja network which brings producers to traffickers and suppliers of inputs and industry knowledge. What has emerged is a Caribbean division of labour, with Guyana now being the new growth area for the production of huge tracts of plantation grade ganja. Jamaican producers and traffickers have forged operational links with Haitian operators where Haitian labour is used on Jamaican ganja farms, the product is moved to Haiti and exchanged for a range of commodities including arms and ammunition and from Haiti the product is trafficked to the US. The Jamaicans are present throughout the Caribbean ganja trade given their pioneering expertise in the production and export of ganja products. The price of organic, high potency ganja has now established throughout the Caribbean grow houses which are simply ganja production units operating indoors. Grow house operators with the necessary funding and linked to the suppliers of top quality seeds maximise profits by producing distinctive tasting, high potency ganja which is sought in the North Atlantic. The reality is that the price of quality ganja now allows profitable muling for the first time in the history of this illicit trade. A kilo swallowed and delivered in New York and London yields huge profits. This profit also now breeds graphic gun violence.
In the absence of debate on changes to the law on the production and use of ganja products the ganja industry of the Caribbean is thriving in 2013.
Daurius Figueira is a lecturer in the Sociology Unit of the Behavioural Sciences Department at UWI, St. Augustine, and has published in 2012 the book: "Cocaine Trafficking in the Caribbean and West Africa in the Era of the Mexican Cartels."
|
