Pubdate: Sun, 23 Sep 2001
Source: Jamaica Gleaner, The (Jamaica)
Copyright: 2001 The Gleaner Company Limited
Contact:  http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/493
Author:  Revd. Ernle Gordon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

DECRIMINALISATION OF GANJA

THE EDITOR, Sir:

It is very unfortunate that the moment you use the word decriminalisation 
in Jamaica, some people feel that it means legalisation, but, this is not 
the case in Barbados, because many Bajans did Latin in school, so they know 
the difference.

My understanding of the issue, is that if a person is found with two ounces 
of ganja, it would be unwise to lock up that teenager in a cell with 
vicious killers. The correct thing to do is to send that person to a 
counsellor.

Second, if a man is arrested for having 10 ounces of ganja, but he has four 
small children and his wife was admitted into Victoria Jubilee Hospital to 
have a fifth child, you do not criminalise that man, but provide an avenue 
for him to return to his family urgently. Ganja can be decriminalised so 
that it can be used for medicinal purposes in order to treat glaucoma and 
provide relief for those who have AIDS and certain types of cancer.

Decriminalisation does not mean that we should neglect the harmful aspect 
of the use of marijuana as expressed in medical research periodicals. 
(Pregnant mothers and young adults' brain). The use of ganja for medicinal 
purposes, and the dangerous aspects of ganja can be found on the Internet. 
The Christian church has to have dialogue as to how to interpret 
theologically, the use of marijuana to convey God's grace. What is the 
nature of our sacramental theology?

I object to the interference of a U.S. diplomat who is trying to threaten a 
sovereign country with cold war duppy language, that if Jamaica 
decriminalise marijuana, the U.S. will penalise us. The U.S. plants more 
ganja than Jamaica and the multinational pharmaceutical firms in the U.S. 
are eagerly waiting to manufacture drugs from the ganja plant.

Thank God for Fidel Castro who has shown that you can defy America for 40 
years, live under an embargo, escape assassination by the CIA, and have 
three per cent economic growth. He is the politician of the 20th century 
and the Cuban people must be congratulated.

Jamaicans must not allow the U.S. to resurrect 'the rolling calf mythology 
of neo-colonialism' and we should tell the Pentagon, that we are not for 
sale. We are a sovereign nation; leave us alone. This goes not only for 
U.S. politicians from the State Department, but those visiting U.S. 
evangelists who need to read more.

Jamaicans! Stand Firm! Read the following poems by Claude McKay, "If We 
Must Die", "Baptism" and "Like A Strong Tree."

I am, etc.,

REVD. ERNLE GORDON
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