JAMAICAN SENATE DEBATES MOTION TO CREATE MARIJUANA COMMISSION

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - The Jamaican Senate on Friday began debating a
motion that would create a national commission on marijuana and would
cleanse criminal records for those charged with possession of small amounts
of the drug.

Sen. Trevor Munroe presented the motion that would set up the commission
and all clear some criminal charges from the records of marijuana
offenders, but not from those charged with the intent to sell the drug. The
commission would study the "ganja situation in Jamaica" for six months and
then produce a report, Munroe said. Marijuana is known as ganja throughout
most of the Caribbean.

Munroe, a University of the West Indies political science professor and
former Rhodes Scholar, also called for the establishment of a center that
would study medical uses for marijuana.

However, Munroe said Friday his motion is not about making marijuana legal
in Jamaica and it would not affect the country's anti-drug treaties with
other nations and international organizations.

However, he said he believes marijuana offenses are too harshly punished.

"It cannot be right and it cannot be just to continue to criminalize
Jamaicans for private personal use of ganja, while more toxic substances --
namely alcohol and cigarettes -- used in public in excessive quantities
attract no criminal sanction," Munroe said.

The debate on the measure is to continue in parliament next week.