HOUSE COMMITTEE SAYS RASTAS SHOULD BE ABLE TO USE GANJA AS SACRAMENT

The Joint Select Committee which considered the recommendations of the
National Commission on Ganja has recommended that the laws be amended
to allow Rastafarians to use small quantities of ganja for "sacramental
purposes".

But the committee acknowleged that implementing the recommendation
could present a challenge, "for under existing international
conventions, as signed by the Government of Jamaica, it was not
possible to decriminalise the use of ganja for sacramental purposes".

In a companion recommendation, it suggested that Jamaica begins an
international campaign to revise the International Convention on
Psychotropic Substances (1971) so as to address the local situation
with respect to the religious use of the ganja plant, Cannabis Sativa.

The recommendations were included in the report from the committee
which was finally tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The report said that the chairman of the National Commission on Ganja,
University of the West Indies sociologist, Barry Chevannes, had
informed the committee that his commission's recommendation was based
on the conclusion that Rastafarians held a sincere belief in ganja's
sacramental value, "and were not merely trying to justify simple use",
so their religious rights ought to be respected.

The committee recommended further that Jamaica's permanent
representative (Sharon Hay-Webster) to the Joint Parliamentary
Assembly of the African, Caribbean and Pacific/European Union states,
be furnished with the relevant documents to allow her to make
representation on the re-examination of the international conventions
at that forum.

"In particular, we recommend that a case be made for Rastafarians to
be exempted under Article 32 of the Convention on Psychotroipic
Substances, 1971, which protects religious use of substances
prohibited under that treaty," the Select Committee said.

This was in response to the commission's proposal that, as a matter of
great urgency, Jamaica should embark on diplomatic initiatives with
its Caricom partners and other countries outside the region, in
particular members of the European Union, with a view to: (a) elicit
support for its internal position; and (b) to influence the
international community to re-examine the status of Cannabis.

In terms of the proposal from the commission, "that the relevant laws
be amended so that ganja be decriminalised for the private, personal
use of small quantities by adults", the committee recommended that the
Dangerous Drugs Act be amended so that the use of small quantities of
ganja in public, "be made a minor offence to be tried in petty
sessions of the Resident Magistrate's Court".

The committee also recommended that the criminal records
(Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act be amended, "to ensure that these
minor offences not be recorded".

On the commission's proposal that, "decriminalisation for personal use
should exclude smoking by juveniles, or by anyone in premises
accessible to the public", the committee recommended that where minors
are found using ganja, the child and care-giver be referred to
counselling and effective, appropriate action be taken to discourage
further use by the child, in keeping with provisions related to
tobacco and alcohol under the Child Care and Protection Act.

In terms of smoking in public places, the committee said that in cases
where persons break the law by smoking ganja in premises accessible to
the public, the owner of the premises be subject to the relevant
penalties, be it a fine or any other sanction.

The committee was chaired by Dr Morais Guy and included MPs Dr Patrick
Harris, Sharon Hay-Webster, Richard Azan, Ralston Hanson, Dr Donald
Rhodd, Mike Henry, Delroy Chuck, Dr Kenneth Baugh and Clive Mullings,
as well as senators Navel Clarke, Floyd Morris, Dr Trevor Munroe, Kern
Spencer, Dorothy Lightbourne and Shirley Williams. Secretary was
Tracey Heron.