JAMAICA MULLING OKING MARIJUANA FOR PRIVATE USE

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- 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 dreadlocked 27-year-old
Rastafarian at the "Luke Lane" market, who gives his name only as Toro as
he holds a bud in the air and beckons to a passer-by. Sale completed, he
lights a joint of rolled marijuana and smiles.

These days, he has a lot to be happy about.

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

"(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," said the commission's report.

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. So far, 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."