Pubdate: Sun, 30 Sep 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Section: International
Author: David Gonzalez

PANEL URGES LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN JAMAICA

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Along Luke Lane, a narrow, cluttered side street 
nestled in one of West Kingston's busy markets, the smell from glistening 
heaps of red snapper quickly gives way to another more pungent aroma. On 
barrels, footstools and tables lie piles of thick, bushy buds of marijuana, 
eagerly trumpeted by vendors who puff away all day.

"People have nothing, so they plant ganja," said one young man, who 
declined to give his name but whose family grows marijuana in the 
countryside and sells it here for as little as $2 for a stem with a few 
thick buds. "If the police come by and mash it up, they will plant again 
the next day. And if the police come and take the herb here, we'll be out 
selling again the next day."

For all that it is widely used in public here, marijuana is also illegal, 
with possession — once punished with a mandatory sentence of 18 months at 
hard labor — still subject to a stiff fine.

Now, apparently in an effort to reconcile the law with reality, a 
government commission has recommended that Jamaica decriminalize marijuana 
for personal use while continuing bans on cultivation and trafficking.

"The current law is unenforceable because ganja cannot be suppressed 
because it is too entrenched," said Barry Chevannes, the dean of social 
sciences at the University of the West Indies, who headed the commission.

American officials, local clergy and the police have objected, but Prime 
Minister P. J. Patterson has said he finds some of the commission's 
recommendations "persuasive." International groups for drug law reform said 
the proposal reflected a growing trend in Europe and Canada toward easing 
drug laws.

United States diplomats and law enforcement officials have warned that 
decriminalization might violate international antidrug treaties and could 
result in Jamaica's being denied American foreign aid if it was deemed 
uncooperative in the war on drugs.

Fear of losing certification, and American aid, has worried local officials 
and the law enforcement authorities who oppose decriminalization.

Mr. Chevannes noted that the panel supported increasing public education 
efforts to discourage smoking among youths, did not recommend public 
smoking, and supported stiffer criminal penalties for large-scale 
cultivation and trafficking.

He said penalizing the widely accepted use of marijuana — some 6,000 people 
a year are charged with marijuana offenses — helped to bring the law itself 
into disrepute in Jamaica. Increased crime and warring drug gangs have left 
the public dazed by violence and murder, and distrustful of a police force 
that Jamaicans say regularly resorts to deadly force.

But at least a fifth of the population of some 2.7 million smoke it for 
relaxation, religion or relief from illness, the report says. Rastafarians 
consider it a sacrament, and have long resisted any attempt to ban the 
herb. A potent medicinal infusion is made by stuffing buds into a bottle of 
white rum and burying it for nine days. Mothers brew ganja tea to give a 
teaspoonful to newborns to ward off illness and evil spirits.

"People believe it is a panacea that can cure many things," Mr. Chevannes 
said. "With beliefs like that, it becomes virtually impossible to suppress."

Other Jamaicans believe that there are more pressing problems — urban 
violence and trafficking in cocaine from Colombia, for instance.

"We have other issues that are much more critical to be spending time on 
than that," said Wendell Smith, the managing director of a computer 
company. "Anyway, it seems to be legal now. At the beach or concerts, the 
smell is most noticeable."

Previous attempts to decriminalize marijuana have stalled, partly out of 
fear of backlash.

The Rev. Devon Brown, a Pentecostal minister, is one opponent. His brother 
was a promising student in a good college, "but back in the 70's he became 
involved with the Rastas and began smoking ganja," he said. "Thirty years 
later, he still hasn't recovered from that."

"It is not a positive part of our culture," Mr. Brown said. "It brings our 
values down."

The commission's report has yet to be acted on by Parliament, and the prime 
minister, who faces elections by the end of next year, may decide to delay 
any move for fear of political backlash. Some leaders of his People's 
National Party said they would favor a national referendum, rather than a 
parliamentary vote, on the issue.

"A political party must take a stand," said Paul Burke, the party chairman 
for Kingston and a longtime advocate of marijuana legalization. The report, 
he said, "just sidesteps the issue."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens