By Earl Moxam, Gleaner WriterTHE PARLIAMENTARY Committee considering the report of the National Commission on Ganja agreed yesterday to support the decriminalisation of ganja for private personal use.
There was only one dissenting voice, that of Opposition Senator Shirley Williams.
The Ganja Commission, headed by Professor Barry Chevannes, had recommended that the private, personal use of ganja be decriminalised. This recommendation was readily embraced by most members of the parliamentary committee from the outset, but they were later put on the defensive by Solicitor-General Michael Hylton who cautioned that decriminalisation would put Jamaica in conflict with its international treaty obligations on narcotics control.
Taking her cue from the Solicitor-General, Senator Williams recommended declassification of ganja, in effect making the smoking of it a relatively minor offence that would attract no more than a small fine, in the first instance.
Opposition Members Delroy Chuck and Clive Mullings, along with Government Senator Trevor Munroe, were particularly insistent however that declassification did not sufficiently meet the objective of removing sanctions from the use of ganja.
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES
Arising from the ensuing discussion, three significant changes to the proposals before the committee were presented and accepted.
The National Commission on Ganja had recommended that "the relevant law be amended so that ganja be decriminalised for the private, personal use of small quantities by adults."
The Parliamentary Committee, at Senator Munroe's urging, amended that proposal to read: "That the relevant laws be amended so that the private, personal use of ganja be no longer an offence."
That change did not sit well with Senator Williams, who argued that the committee would be legalising ganja use.
LEGALISING GANJA
She reminded her colleagues that the Solicitor-General had been at pains to point out that no country in the world had legalised ganja.
"Even in Amsterdam (in the Netherlands) where you have coffee shops (where ganja is openly sold), on the law books it is still an offence. So let us not be the only country in the world that has marijuana as no offence at all," she said.
Clive Mullings was equally adamant, however, arguing that there was no problem with Jamaica being the first country to do so.
On Delroy Chuck's insistence, the committee also adopted a new formulation on an earlier recommendation, which now reads: "The Dangerous Drugs Act be amended so that the use of small quantities of marijuana in public be made a minor offence to be tried in the petty session of the Resident Magistrate's Court."
The motive behind that amendment, according to Mr. Chuck, was that it would reinforce the position that, whilst it might still be an offence to smoke marijuana in public, it would no longer be an offence to do so in private. This change was supported by all the members present, with the exception of Clive Mullings.
Mr. Mullings, an attorney-at-law, was adamant that there should no longer be any criminal sanctions attached to the smoking of ganja, whether in private or in public. And whereas the Solicitor-General had recommended the erasing of related criminal records in less time than the present six-year limit, the committee agreed to recommend that, while a register would be kept of such offences, this would not form part of the person's criminal record, for any period.
The committee hopes to complete its deliberations at its next meeting, after which its final report will be presented to Parliament for debate and a conscience vote.
