JAMAICA: GANJA DECRIM IS MOVING AGAIN

It has been 26 years since an official Jamaican commission called for
the decriminalization of marijuana in the ganja-friendly Caribbean
island and four years since the latest National Commission on Ganja,
headed by Dr. Barry Chevannes, was empanelled. Two years ago, after
months of extensive hearings, that commission also called for the
decriminalization of marijuana use, and while the Jamaican government
vowed to move rapidly on its recommendations, efforts to do just that
have been bottled up in parliament. Now, there is movement again, and
a decrim vote in parliament could come by March, according to Jamaican
sources.

On November 12, the Jamaican parliament's Joint Select Committee on
the Report of the National Commission on Ganja gave its imprimatur to
one of the seven recommendations for ganja decrim elaborated by the
commission. The panel will meet again next week to address questions
on the other recommendations and hear new testimony, including
appearances from Keith Stroup of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws (http://www.norml.org) and Ethan Nadelmann of
the Drug Policy Alliance (http://www.drugpolicy.org).

That effort is part of a push to get a decrim bill moving this
session, said Member of Parliament Mike Henry, long an advocate of not
just decriminalization but legalization, who is on the Joint Select
Committee. "Several of us on the committee are pushing hard to get
this bill before parliament, certainly during this session, which ends
in March," he told DRCNet.

But Henry added that reform proponents were moving carefully to ensure
that decrim is all it is supposed to be. "We are all for decrim, but
we have some questions about what the word decriminalization actually
means here," he said. "Will it be a civil offense? That is supposed to
be the intent, but we have to be very careful because, based on our
history and the behavior of our police, you may have some abuses if
the law is not carefully crafted."

If Henry is patient, Senator Trevor Munroe, who introduced the bill
calling for a new national commission in 1999, is less so. In an
impassioned plea for action in parliament during last week's session
of the Joint Select Committee, Munroe scored his colleagues for their
sloth and indecision on the ganja issue. "With the greatest of respect
to participatory democracy, of which I am and remain an unapologetic
advocate, we should not confuse participatory democracy with gross
indecision, indecisiveness, and failure to implement what has been a
consensus for 26 years," he said.

Paul Chang and the Coalition for Ganja Law Reform ("Ganja: Tax Regulate
Control Educate") are doing their part to keep the pressure on. "We are
trying to push the agenda forward and create momentum for
decriminalization," Chang told DRCNet. "We are planning a national poll to
make news, as well as a campaign of billboards, flyers, seminars, and
activity in the streets to educate the population. And we are working with
American reformers, such as NORML and the Drug Policy Alliance," Chang said.

"What I am seeing is that there is a real effort to have the decrim
recommendations go to parliament before Christmas," Chang explained.
"We have another committee hearing next week, when the Attorney
General's office is supposed to enter its opinion. Keith Stroup and
Ethan Nadelmann will testify then, and other American reform groups
will enter written testimony in support. The question will be whether
we can get a vote before parliament adjourns in March."

"Paul Chang asked a few individuals if they wanted to go down and
testify and if they could do it without funding," said NORML's Allan
St. Pierre, "and as far as I know, Keith and Ethan Nadelmann are both
going down. Keith will hit all those tried and true points he always
hits -- that decrim makes sense but legalization is better, that
people who use marijuana are not deviants, and that every commission
that has examined the topic has recommended these changes," he told
DRCNet.

St. Pierre also expressed concern about the actual wording of a decrim
bill. "I can almost see this passing, but with components added that
would denude it and give lots of deference to the US-UN prohibitionist
drug policies," he said. But while the US embassy in Kingston made
some blustering noises when the ganja commission issued its report, US
prohibitionists have been relatively silent on Jamaican decrim lately.
"We have not seen anything like the saber-rattling we saw with Walters
in Canada," St. Pierre noted. "It may be because Canada is our major
trading partner. But even with US disapproval there is something
almost ridiculously self-evident about marijuana law reform in a place
like Jamaica, with its history, culture, and current practices."

The US is not the only opposition, Chang said. "We have to watch out
for the churches down here," he said. "Some of them are very
conservative."

Despite opposition at home and abroad, it appears likely that ganja
decrim will finally have a vote before parliament this session. Stay
tuned.