SECURITY CHIEF HINTS AT LENIENCY ON DRUGS

Punishments dished out to petty drug users for cannabis possession may
not 'fit the crime', National Security Minister Wayne Perinchief has
conceded.

He said lawmakers may need to rethink the strict approach to
possession offences amid fears that too many young people are ending
up on the US stop list for minor drug offences.

"The biggest social impact, other than the health issue, is the
criminalization of people using small amounts of the drug.

"It can have a great impact on their lives in terms of being a
prohibition to them travelling.

"The punishment that comes out of that is sometimes disproportionate
to the crime.

"We would all like for people not to engage in the criminal behaviour
of smoking drugs - it's a health issue as well.

"But I think we need to look at alternatives to incarceration and
alternatives to the judicial system when it comes to small amounts of
certain drugs."

The US currently has a policy of blocking visa applications from
Bermudians with any type of drug conviction - including a conditional
discharge.

Mr Perinchief believes that makes for a double punishment for
Bermudians compared with their peers in other jurisdictions. He said
authorities in the US and the UK were starting to take a more relaxed
approach to cannabis possession.

And he believes it is time for Bermuda to consider easing
up.

His comments represent a change in approach from previous National
Security Minuster Colonel David Burch who criticized the use of
marijuana in Bermuda, which he said had reached 'epidemic'
proportions.

Colonel Burch told the Bermuda Sun in January last year that he had
instructed police to take a more aggressive approach on cannabis and
said he would resign from politics if the PLP supported
decriminilisation.

Former senator Burch has since quit the political scene for different
reasons and the decriminilisation movement is gaining credence within
the party.

Last week MP Marc Bean argued for a debate on the merits of
decriminalizing drugs in the aftermath of a report from the Global
Commission on Drug Policy.

Global report

The report, written by an influential panel including former UN
secretary general Kofi Annan, recommended the legalization of some
drugs as a potential solution to the blight of the drug trade on
communities across the globe.

It concluded that the war on drugs had failed by fuelling organized
crime, costing taxpayers millions of dollars and causing thousands of
deaths.

Mr Perinchief said global opinion on tackling drug related crime was
starting to shift.

But he said the debate on whether or not to legalise drugs would have
to be led by the larger countries, like the US and the European Union.

"I think Governments at an international level need to start having
that conversation around different ways of dealing with the drug
issue, potentially looking at it as a health problem.

"I think the smaller nations will have to take their lead from the
larger countries on that...

"Most people recognize that cannabis is the most widely used illegal
substance in Bermuda and for us the discussion should start there."