THE EDITOR, Sir:
I WISH to respond to Mr. Michael Lorne's letter: 'A moot point on ganja possession', published in The Gleaner on Friday, April 16, 2004. In his carefully written and well researched letter, Mr. Lorne points out that the law does make provision for the possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes. To strengthen his point he cites the case of Sutton vs. Regina (1967). One welcomes the enlightened discussion from the esteemed attorney and agrees with him wholeheartedly that we need to put to rest the issue of marijuana.
However, where one takes issue with Mr. Lorne is in his stance regarding the fact that "young men are being locked up and given blots on their records for mere possession". Until the issue of marijuana is put to rest by the Legislature, should we not continue to teach our children, particularly our young men to respect the law? If we teach them to respect the law as it now stands would we not be assisting in preventing this blot on their records? Also what of the issue of community sentencing? Could not this be handed down to the young men instead of incarceration.
Finally, what about referring these young men to the Drug Court Programme? My understanding is that once one successfully completes this programme, there is no blot on one's record.
Indeed Mr Lorne, the journey continues.
I am, etc.,
VIOLET SMYTHE
ncdawestern@cwjamaica.com
Drug Abuse Sec. Western
