Federal government considering committee to examine use of marijuana

Published: Sunday 19th March 2017

By: T. J. Chapman 

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (SKN PULSE) — The Harris led St Kitts/Nevis government says it is considering appointing a broad-based commitee to examine the issues involved in the use of marijuana.

According to Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris, his administration is now ready for an open dialogue with the relevant stakeholders on the issue of the decriminalization of marijuana, which he termed to be a matter of national interest.

“We have a submission going to the Cabinet hopefully next week where we are attempting to set up that broad based committee that would look at all of the issues involved in the use of marijuana and all other matters in relation to it,” Harris said on a radio programme in St Kitts.

He further informed listeners that there will be representation from the Rastafarian community, from persons in the health sector , from law enforcement personel, from the schools and from other relevant parties. 

The Nevis Reformation Party started the discussion on marijuana as they looked at usage, medicinal purposes, forming an industry and by-products. Such a move allowed for an intensified approach by members of the public, particularly from the Rastafarian community, to lead the charge on the legalisation marijuana. While the ruling government of the day wasn’t entertaining the thought of a national discussion, the Nevis Reformation Party was adamant that the discussion was necessary.  Prime Minister Harris has expressed a national discussion is important to the overall educational process on the issue.

During his discourse on the radio he further lamented that “People can look objectively at the pros and the cons in relation to this matter and determine where the country could find a consensus with regard to all the knowledge that we must know.

“Knowledge with respect to its implications on our health; knowledge in relation to impact upon schooling and the delivery of education; knowledge in terms of all the consequences – social, economic and religious – which the Rastafarian brother raised,” Harris said, noting that his government will look objectively at the findings of the commission’s report following the consultative process.

In the meantime, Harris reaffirmed that the country will uphold the laws that are now on the books and called on citizens and residents to abide by the laws of the land.

On the regional front,  the formal regional conversation around marijuana in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will move to another level when the first national consultation on the issue is held on Wednesday, 15 June in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Last year, the Guyana-based Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat announced that the Regional Commission on Marijuana had convened a series of consultations with a cross section of stakeholders including youth, faith based organizations and non-governmental organizations and special interests groups.

Regional leaders at the annual  CARICOM summit of 2014 had mandated that the Secretary General of CARICOM to establish the Marijuana Commission which would, inter alia, “examine the social, economic, health and legal issues surrounding the various aspects of Marijuana use in the Caribbean and its implications, and make recommendations to the Conference”.

The Commission which is headed by Professor Rose-Marie-Bell Antoine, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, is composed of practitioners with  expert knowledge in a  variety of disciplines  including medicine and allied health, health research, law enforcement, ethics, education, anthropology, sociology, and culture.