Pubdate: Sat, 18 Aug 2001
Source: Inquirer (PA)
Copyright: 2001 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/home/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Matthew Rosenberg, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

DESPITE U.S. CRITICISM, JAMAICA LIKELY TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA USE

KINGSTON, Jamaica - In the heart of Kingston, about a dozen men stand in an 
open-air emporium, stacking long buds of marijuana even though the crop is 
illegal in Jamaica.

"High-grade, the best. ... Smell it," says a Rastafarian at the Luke Lane 
market, who gives his name only as Toro as he beckons to a passerby. Sale 
completed, he lights a joint of rolled marijuana and smiles.

He has a lot to be happy about.

A national commission recommended Thursday that marijuana be legalized for 
personal use by adults - a move the government is considered likely to 
endorse despite opposition from the United States, which has spent millions 
to eradicate the crop on the Caribbean island.

"[Marijuana's] reputation among the people as a panacea and a spiritually 
enhancing substance is so strong that it must be regarded as culturally 
entrenched," the commission said.

The National Commission on Ganja - as marijuana is known here - also said 
Jamaica should allow the use of marijuana for religious purposes. This is 
important to the Rastafarian minority, who worship deceased Ethiopian 
Emperor Haile Selassie as a prophet and use marijuana as a sacrament.

Prime Minister P.J. Patterson last year appointed the commission, which 
included academics and doctors. He and elected officials have not publicly 
commented on the report. But Ralston Smith, an aide to Patterson, said: "My 
gut feeling is that the commission's recommendations will be followed."

Any change in drug laws would have to be approved by Parliament. 
Legalization, even for personal use, could cause friction with the United 
States and violate the 1988 U.N. Convention Against the Illicit Traffic in 
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. Jamaica signed the accord.

"The U.S. opposes the decriminalization of marijuana," Michael Koplovsky, a 
U.S. Embassy spokesman, said Thursday.

During the last 20 years, the United States has worked with Jamaica to burn 
marijuana fields and carry out other antidrug efforts. It also has provided 
aid to fight drug trafficking in Jamaica, the Caribbean's largest marijuana 
exporter and a major transshipment point for cocaine bound for Europe and 
elsewhere.

The commission addressed these concerns, urging the government to "embark 
on diplomatic initiatives ... to elicit support for its internal position."

Between 1992 and 1998, the United States provided $7.8 million to Jamaica 
to eliminate marijuana production and trafficking.

Marijuana's deep roots were clear in Luke Lane after word spread of the 
commission's recommendation. The vendors were pleased at the possibility 
that it might soon be legal to use marijuana, even though selling the drug 
would remain illegal.

One dealer, who gave his name as Metro, said he earned about $100 on a good 
day. "This money doesn't go out to buy guns," he said. "It goes to food 
that fills the bellies of my children and puts them in school clothes and 
pays their school fees."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager