THE EDITOR, Sir:
ON JULY 25, Ren-Nay Lyons died in the Kingston Public Hospital after a bullet fired by a policeman at a fleeing ganja-smoker smashed into her skull. She was only 10 years old.
Last year a 92-year-old man was arrested and taken before the courts on a criminal charge for being in possession of a small quantity of ganja. About 20 years ago a man in Moore Town, Portland, running away in broad daylight from the police in a ganja raid was shot dead on the spot. His grieving paramour was left with 11 fatherless children and the country with all the serious social problems resulting therefrom.
It is now just over two years since the report of the Ganja Commission was published. No fundamental change has since taken place as the above incidents clearly show. Jamaica and the paradoxical US still continue to operate under a law over 60 years old in the face of all the scientific advances and social changes especially in the area of human rights that have been taking place all over the world.
I have here used the word paradox because reports indicate that the US is perhaps next to Mexico the largest producer of marijuana in the world, many growers using the most modern methods in doing so. She is certainly the largest consumer and shows the highest demand. One recent report has stated that British Columbia in Canada alone grows and transports across the border some $4 billion worth of really high grade quality annually. In 1995 the New York Times estimated the worth of the locally grown product at $32 billion, and the leading subject discussed in the Times Magazine of November 4, 2002 asks the question "Is America going to pot?" So extensive is its use there.
The paradox of the whole situation is made even more ludicrous and tragic in that not one of the reasons given the US Congress for outlawing the plant in 1937 exists today. Most were disproved as far back as 1943 by the brilliant five year study carried out in New York city by Mayor La Guardia. Yet today some 60 years later an innocent 10 year old child has been made to pay the ultimate price on the altar of Government's unconcern and inaction.
Exactly what are you waiting for Mr. Patterson and what really are you trying to prove?
I am,. etc.
Dr. R.G. LAMPART
Morant Bay
St. Thomas
