Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner WriterSOLICITOR-GENERAL Michael Hylton has put Parliament on notice that any move to decriminalise the use of ganja, even for 'private, personal use', will place Jamaica at odds with the country's international treaty obligations on drug control.
The National Commission on Ganja, in its report, had recommended, among other things, that the Dangerous Drugs Act be amended to decriminalise the private, personal use of marijuana in small quantities.
In his submission to the Joint Select Committee of Parliament considering the Commission's report, Mr. Hylton confirmed yesterday that this recommendation could be implemented with amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act.
BREACHING THE CONVENTIONS
On the other hand, he told the committee that, if implemented, this action would find Jamaica in breach of three international conventions: The Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs, 1961, as amended by the 1972 Protocol (the Single Narcotics Convention), to which Jamaica acceded in 1972; the 1972 Convention on Psycho-tropic Substances, which Jamaica ratified on October 6, 1989 and the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, ratified by Jamaica in 1995.
Regarding the Single Narcotics Convention, which lists marijuana as a prohibited drug, the Solicitor-General quoted from the convention, a section which seeks to 'limit exclusively to medical and scientific purposes the production, manufacture, export, import, distribution of, trade in, use and production of drugs'.
The language of the convention, he argued, 'clearly indicates that marijuana use is not encouraged by this treaty'.
To further substantiate that point, Mr. Hylton highlighted Article 36(1)(a) of the Single Narcotics Convention, which states that any action in breach of this treaty 'shall be punishable offences when committed intentionally, and serious offences shall be liable to adequate punishment particularly by imprisonment or other penalties of deprivation of liberty'.
Highlighting some of the apparent contradictions in the recommendation of the Ganja Commis-sion, the Solicitor-General told the Parliamentary Committee that 'from a legal point of view' it is difficult to understand how marijuana use could be allowed when marijuana 'possession' is required to be treated as a punishable offence.
Similarly, he said it would be 'highly impractical, if not unworkable, to decriminalise marijuana use, but keep the supply and transportation factors subject to the criminal law'.
