 | NORML News: Jamaica to decriminalise de 'erb |
 It has been 26 years since an official Jamaican commission called for the decriminalisation of marijuana in the ganja-friendly Caribbean island. Two years ago the latest National Commission on Ganja also called for the decriminalisation of marijuana use, and while the Jamaican government vowed to move rapidly on its recommendations, efforts to do just that have been bottled up in parliament. Now, there is movement again, and a decrim vote in parliament could come by March, according to Jamaican sources.
NORML News Summer 2003-4
On November 12, the Jamaican parliament's Joint Select Committee on the Report of the National Commission on Ganja gave its approval to one of the seven recommendations for ganja decrim elaborated by the commission. The panel will meet again to address questions on the other recommendations and hear new testimony, including appearances from Keith Stroup of the NORML and Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance.
That effort is part of a push to get a decrim bill moving this session, said Member of Parliament Mike Henry, long an advocate of legalization, who is on the Joint Select Committee. Henry added that reform proponents were moving carefully to ensure that decriminalisation is all it is supposed to be.
"We are all for decrim, but we have some questions about what the word decriminalisation actually means here," he said. "Will it be a civil offence? That is supposed to be the intent, but we have to be very careful because, based on our history and the behaviour of our police, you may have some abuses if the law is not carefully crafted."
Wise words indeed.
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