 Its Carnival time in T&T once again. 2019. It is a great time to be in this country; it is a great time to be Trinbagonian; both for Carnival enthusiasts… and for proponents of the recreational and medicinal use of marijuana, as Government pushes ahead in its effort to bring legislation to decriminalise marijuana by July 2019.
A diverse group of individuals representing varying interests– students, evangelical delegates, marijuana activists, businessmen, academia and members of the Rastafarian faith– sat in attendance at the 2nd Public Consultation on the Decriminalisation of Marijuana held on Wednesday 6 February at The UWI Teaching and Learning Complex in St Augustine.
Some 135 countries (92 per cent of nations globally) are involved in a form of cannabis cultivation. Between 183 Million and 238 Million persons worldwide have used cannabis at least once in their lifetime. Most importantly, the marijuana industry is valued at an astounding US$9.3 Billion (as of 2016).
A Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs poll currently stands at 85 per cent out of 700,000 respondents in favour of legalising the drug. The figure of 85 per cent also represents the percentage of persons held on remand for the possession of marijuana during the period 2007-2018 (68,730 persons out of 80,815).
Facilitating the session was Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Faris Al-Rawi, who shared that the cost of incarceration on remand of one inmate for one month is approximately $25,000. For an eleven-year period that same inmate costs the state $2.54 million.
There are currently 1,565 inmates that have been at remand yard awaiting trial for under five years and 246 over 11 years. They represent a malfunctioning justice system at best, a possible human rights violation at worst, and a cost of $9 billion and $.5+ billion respectively to taxpayers over the span of their incarceration.
“Our society clearly has an affinity for drugs, because we recognise that we are a transshipment point and there's an industry in narcotics. The question is, where do we want to place resources as a nation in managing these statistics,” stated Al-Rawi.
Maximum security prison statistics for marijuana-related offences for the 2014-2019 period also revealed that T&T’s war on pot seems to target mainly young (male) persons of African descent. Approximately half of those in remand and of those convicted are of African origin. Persons of East Indian and of mixed heritage come in at around a quarter in both instances. The Asian and Hispanic population barely appear in the data, under 0.02% collectively. The Caucasian community does not feature in the statistics.
Stating that it was his duty as T&T’s leader to “have this matter properly examined”, Prime Minister the Honourable Dr Keith Rowley said at a recent political meeting in Diego Martin, "Our jails are full of young people, largely young men, because they smoked a marijuana joint and the law in this county makes the smoking of a marijuana cigarette a criminal offence. Many of them can’t raise bail so they rot inside the jail. That is a matter of social justice that needs to be addressed.
"(But) the marijuana smoking in the upper echelons of society where a serious number of acres of marijuana is burnt, very few of them end up in jail. If they even get charged it is very unlikely that they will end up in the jail. But the ‘gift’ for those who are from Laventille, Enterprise or Cunupia – if you get caught with marijuana you're going to jail.”
Several speakers from the audience vehemently requested a moratorium on arrests for possession of small amounts of “grass” until the decriminalisation takes effect.
But this suggestion was shot down by the AG who explained, “Nobody in this country believes that if you do the crime, you do the time. No Attorney General could actually make the recommendation until the law is implied and put into effect which is why we are here. So the bottom line is we have to make the changes to the law. And the reason is that we want to make sure the law is applied.”
Instead the country can expect the introduction of a “drugaliser” in the not too distant future that will test for the use of cocaine, morphine, prescribed medications and cannabis among other drugs.
“Can we fix everything in one go? No. Our intention is to start. Start and then work our way towards where we want to go,” pronounced Al-Rawi.
Also participating on the decriminalisation panel were Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs the Honourable Fitzgerald Hinds; Jamaican-born gynaecological oncologist and medical marijuana researcher Dr Anthony Pottinger; and research scientist and regional policy adviser on cannabis Marcus Ramkissoon.
The 3rd Public Consultation on the Decriminalisation of Marijuana took place on Wednesday 20 February in Tobago.
Lisa Luana Owen is a freelance writer, event coordinator, PR strategist and traditional and new media marketing consultant.
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