Is the Legalisation of Marijuana in Trinidad & Tobago an ‘Idea Whose Time Has Come’? · Global Voices
Marijuana leaf pattern; photo by <PERSON>, CC BY 2.0.
Even as many parts of the world moves towards the decriminalisation of marijuana, Trinidad and Tobago still considers its cultivation and use illegal.
As early as 2014, activists in neighbouring regional territories were agitating for the “freeing up” of the herb. By February 2015, Jamaica became the first Caribbean nation to decriminalise marijuana when its House of Representatives passed a law allowing possession of up to two ounces of cannabis. The new legislation also allows users to grow up to five plants for personal consumption, and guidelines are being established for the cultivation and distribution of both medical marijuana and use of the herb for religious ceremonies.
In a region whose justice systems are plagued with a backlog of minor possession offences, decriminalisation has been a welcome move to many. In Jamaica, not only has use of the herb been decriminalised, it's been largely normalised — there's talk of ganja cooperatives and the potential of pot tourism. In fact, in late 2015, the country's first Rastafari Rootzfest celebrated the emancipation of marijuana, though some insist the development of Jamaica's legal ganja industry isn't happening fast enough.
Trinidad and Tobago's stance on the issue, meanwhile, remains the polar opposite. The official Twitter feed of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) often posts photos and updates about the quantities of marijuana that are seized and destroyed:
Police destroy TT$650,000 worth in marijuana found in Las Cuevas. pic.twitter.com/etE1gaD7OP
— T&T Police Service (@TTPoliceService) July 17, 2017
Some netizens feel that the legalisation of ganja would separate its use from the dangerous and violent illegal drug trade and ease the burden on the country's justice system, but the TTPS continues to lump them all together, proudly noting that its 2017 marijuana seizures have increased by 29.7% from the year before.
The other facet of the issue is, of course, medical marijuana. In September 2015, C420, a cannabis law reform NGO in Trinidad and Tobago, threatened to sue the country’s ministry of health, saying that it had neglected to make known that legislation pertaining to the lawful possession of marijuana does exist in the country.
Back in October 2015, writer <PERSON>, who has been a strong advocate for decriminalisation, wrote a guest post about the issue for Global Voices. 957
In it, she noted that this “updated legislation has also been mysteriously overlooked by the legions of lawyers who earn astronomical fees defending clients charged under the Dangerous Drugs Act. In the 15 years since it was introduced, it has never once been used as a defence in the thousands of marijuana possession cases that have been clogging the country’s judicial system.”
<PERSON>'s work as an activist and leader of the Caribbean Collective for Justice, a political party that recently campaigned on a green platform that focused on cannabis legalisation, has convinced her that all the United States’ War on Drugs has managed to accomplish is the incarceration of predominantly “poor, young black men“.
She is not alone; her online petition, which calls for the government to “address the fact that as long as ganja remains illegal, it will always be under the control of criminal gangs”, has been signed by more than 3,000 people, and there is a documentary film about the subject. In a public Facebook post that <PERSON> shared, she noted that a former University of the West Indies lecturer, Dr. <PERSON>, wrote the country's prime minister and suggested that the legalisation of weed would see a dramatic drop in crime:
The only ones benefiting from keeping marijuana illegal are the drug gangs and they will be forced out of business by legitimate dealers who would be licensed and who would pay taxes on their sales to generate more revenues. Other products could also be manufactured from hemp to help diversify the economy.
The government will also save money from ending unnecessary prosecutions by directing police officers to cease and desist from going after non-violent marijuana users. […]
If the government is afraid of the electoral consequences of legalization, then call a referendum on the policy and let the people decide. Otherwise, encourage a bipartisan bill to be presented in parliament for legalization. Or encourage citizens to sue the government for the deprivation of liberty and let the courts decide. The more courageous move would be for the Honourable Prime Minister to lead the policy change with an immediate directive to the Law Revision Commission to reclassify marijuana as a legal substance. 271