– very opportunistic he is talking it up now, say Carrington, Ramjattan

ALLIANCE For Change (AFC) Member of Parliament (MP) Michael Carrington says every bit of support is needed to ensure the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act is amended to remove imprisonment for persons found guilty of being in possession of small amounts of marijuana.

According to the legislation, once summarily convicted of possession of any narcotic, a person is liable to be imprisoned – for at least three years and at most five. There is also a fine attached to such conviction.
This week, the issue of the decriminalisation of small amounts of marijuana resurfaced when 27-year-old Carl Mangal was sentenced to three years in prison for being in possession of 8.6 grams of marijuana.

Attorney Nigel Hughes has since filed an appeal against the three-year sentence imposed on Mangal.
The sentencing of the man has outraged the AFC, and has resulted in calls for swift action to remove custodial sentencing for persons found with small amounts of ganja.

On Friday, Carrington told reporters that he finds it strange that after serving in government for 23 years the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), through its Opposition Leader and former President Bharrat Jagdeo is seeking to “jump on board”.
“There is a lot of confusion in the PPP camp,” Carrington told reporters Friday during a press conference held at his party’s headquarters. He said his party is working towards the reduction of sentencing for persons found with small amounts of marijuana.

“Since 1988, this Act was in place and the PPP spent all that time in government from 1992 to 2015 and they had done nothing whatsoever to deal with this particular matter,” said the AFC member who had tabled the bill in 2015.

He said after putting the proposed legislation to the House, it was recognised that the Advisory Council on Narcotics as well as the rehabilitation fund which falls under the Ministry of Public Health, was never established

“To move the bill forward we need to have that fund established for eventuality because we don’t know what would take place. We hope we won’t have a situation with a lot of people smoking. I know fully well from my observation across Guyana, jailing a person does not stop a person from smoking. People still smoke, although many persons get jailed for five grams or 10 grams or whatever the case,” Carrington stated.

Jagdeo recently said he favours non-custodial sentences for persons found to be in possession of small amounts of marijuana being removed from the law books while stating that he is not in favour of legalising the plant.
Rehabilitation and education are critical, Carrington told reporters while making it clear that he is not a smoker.

“At the same time I don’t want to see our people go to jail for just a joint, especially when it does not harm the person next to them.”

STEP IN RIGHT DIRECTION
He said the PPP’s indication that it will support the legislation is a step in the right direction but reminded that the steps being taken now should have been taken by the PPP when they were in power.

“I hope good sense prevails but in terms of trying to now bite in or trying to actually own it, I have a problem with that. I think they should have done it a long time ago.
“I am glad for any support we could have whether the PPP or APNU in terms of sitting and dealing with this matter — have an Advisory Council established, fund established and rehabilitation established,” Carrington stated.

The advancing of the draft legislation was stalled after the CARICOM Commission on Marijuana and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) indicated that two studies would be done to examine the entirety of narcotics possessions here as well as sentencing.
The CARICOM report is expected to be released soon. As such, an evidence-based policy decision on marijuana is being explored.

Meanwhile, Carrington said the only persons to benefit from persons going to prison for small amounts of marijuana are lawyers.
“The lawyers make endless money from $100 000 to $500 000 – they benefit and the State loses because they (authorities) spend a lot of money to keep them inside the prison – the family has big loss,” he said.

Carrington, who has strong views against the jailing of persons found with 8 grams of marijuana, said it is pointless to imprison someone, who paid $1 600 for the small quantities of marijuana, and then spend $1M to take care of them for three years.
“I think we should have some system in place where the people could pay a fine and go home and the State take the fine and reinvest it in education to stop people from smoking,” he opined while noting that the legislation is addressing marijuana strictly and not possession of small amounts of cocaine.

CONSCIENCE VOTE
Carrington told reporters that he is looking for “a conscience vote in parliament” from both sides. “Persons see smoking as a very bad thing; but people do drink and do all sort of other things, and a percentage of persons may do things that look bad, but we got to find a way in terms of shaping them back into reality that smoking basically is not good.”

Expressing confidence that the legislation will receive support from both sides of the House, when it returns, Carrington noted that “jailing a person for smoking is not good”. He said the health impacts created by the use of marijuana have been taken into consideration. Eventually, he said, issue of possession for small amounts of cocaine would be examined but the Advisory Council would have to be in place.

Meanwhile, Party Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan has described the opposition leader’s expression of support for the legislation at this belated stage as “supreme, naked, flagrant opportunism”.
“We have now come to the realisation that indeed it is a bad thing for people with these small amounts; eight grams and so on to be jailed for it,” he said.

“We have an obligation as an Executive branch to reduce it,” Ramjattan added that national symposiums on the subject are on the cards.
Meanwhile, the AFC has also pointed to recommendations made in the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Camp Street Prison Disturbances and Resultant Deaths on March 2 to 4, 2016 which called for the decriminalising of possession of minimum amounts of marijuana for personal use.

The Commission of Inquiry was headed by Justice (ret’d) James Patterson who said that non-violent drug offenders ought not to be placed on remand in the penitentiary but the State should employ non-custodial sentences in all cases of possession. Patterson in his report also pointed to the need for information and treatment.

Meanwhile, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams SC, recently told reporters a number of studies illustrated the adverse effects of marijuana use. Such a matter needs to be the subject of a referendum relative to the decriminalisation of small amounts of marijuana.