PRESIDENT TO PROPOSE RELAXED SENTENCE FOR MARIJUANA POSSESSION

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - The government will move to phase out mandatory
jail sentences for people caught with small quantities of marijuana,
Guyanese President Janet Jagan said Sunday.

Speaking on a weekly state television program, Jagan said she will
introduce a bill that would punish marijuana users with a fine or require
them to do community service. The lighter sentences would apply only to
cases involving possession of five grams or less of the drug.

Laws enacted in 1988 require a five-year jail sentence in addition to a
maximum fine of dlrs 70 (Guyana dlrs 10,000) for marijuana possession.

``We want to give a more common sense approach,'' Jagan said in an
interview on the GTV-11 television station. ``What I am saying is that
small cases are being given heavy fines and I don't think it is right. In
the whole narcotics trade, the hard drugs are the real drugs that are
dangerous to people.''

Jagan's People's Progressive Party holds a majority in the Guyanese
parliament.