JAMAICAN PM WANTS TO DECRIMINALIZE GANJA

WASHINGTON -- Jamaican Prime Minister Percival Patterson said on Monday
that he found "persuasive" arguments for decriminalising the private use of
ganja, the local term for marijuana, or cannabis.

A commission of inquiry in Jamaica has recommended decriminalising ganja
for private use by adults, for medicinal purposes or as a religious sacrament.

Patterson, who is on a private visit to Washington, told reporters he
wanted parliament to discuss the commission's report in the autumn and the
government would then recommend whatever legislative amendments were needed.

Asked what he thought of the report, he said, "I find the recommendations
of the report persuasive."

"I want to make it absolutely clear that we are not considering legalising
in the sense of making it legal for people to grow, to sell, to export. It
is for private use, and, of course, it will have to be confined to adults,"
he added.

Patterson said that as part of a decriminalisation process, Jamaica would
have to take some diplomatic steps because of international treaties and
agreements it had signed.

"That process we intend to begin shortly," he said.

The United States, the main source of visitors for Jamaica's tourism
industry, would see decriminalisation as incompatible with a 1988 U.N.
convention on drugs, and such a step could affect Jamaica's status under
the annual certification process that Washington conducts, a U.S. official
said.

"Our view is that decriminalisation is not in keeping with the 1988 U.N.
Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances, of which Jamaica is a signatory," a State Department official said.

"The U.N. convention is our road map for international cooperation, and
decriminalisation would be seen as backsliding. This would factor into the
president's decision for certification," added the official, who asked not
to be named.

Countries that fail to obtain certification they are cooperating against
drugs are ineligible for U.S. financial aid, except for anti-drug and
humanitarian programs.

Patterson said Washington had not conveyed to Jamaica any formal views on
the decriminalisation proposals.

He said the tourism industry in Jamaica had suffered in the short term from
unrest in early July, when 25 people were killed in clashes between
security forces and residents in the western neighbourhoods of the capital,
Kingston.

"But we feel pretty confident that we will be able to overcome it (the
decline in visitors) in the medium and long term," Patterson added.