PM seeks to 'free up' marijuana WASHINGTON, (Reuters): JAMAICAN PRIME Minister P.J. Patterson said yesterday that he found "persuasive" arguments for decriminalising the private use of ganja, the local term for marijuana, or cannabis. A Commission in Jamaica has recommended decriminalising ganja for private use by adults, for medicinal purposes or as a religious sacrament. Mr. 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 legalising 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. Mr. Patterson said that as part of a decriminalisation 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 decriminalisation as incompatible with a 1988 UN convention on drugs, and such a step could affect Jamaica's status under the annual certification process that Washington conducts, a US official said. "Our view is that decriminalisation is not in keeping with the 1988 UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, of which Jamaica is a signatory," a State Department official said. "The UN convention is our road map for international co-operation, and decriminalisation 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 co-operating against drugs are ineligible for US financial aid, except for anti-drug and humanitarian programmes. Mr. Patterson said Washington had not conveyed to Jamaica any formal views on the decriminalisation 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 neighbourhoods 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," Mr. Patterson added.
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