AG: Not so fast!

SCORES of people who attended a consultation to discuss the decriminalisation of marijuana in Barbados made clear their belief that it is time for Barbadians to be able to use the substance without fear of running afoul of the law.

Many, including members of the disabled community suffering from various health issues, declared that they were tired of the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs and called on local authorities to make the move to legalise the use of the marijuana plant for medicinal purposes.

However, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite, who delivered remarks at the opening of the consultation, made it clear that he was still holding the position that any move towards decriminalization should be made from an informed position. He said Barbados must know exactly what is being decriminalised and that must be followed also with serious educational content.

“The health minister in Jamaica in April this year is quoted in one of their newspapers as saying that they have seen a 50 per cent increase of young persons attending public health institutions with health challenges since they decriminalised small quantities of marijuana.

“So it has to be, if we ever go in that direction, or when we go in that direction, that it has a very strong public health message…,” Braithwaite said.

The event, which was hosted by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Regional Marijuana Commission-Barbados National Commission at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Wednesday evening, saw members of the public, including lawyers, contributing to the enlightening debate. They spoke not only about the medicinal values of marijuana, but also about the economic benefits it can bring to Barbados’ struggling economy.
One such speaker, Colin Roach, stated that he has conducted research which has shown that at least 5 000 products can be created from the marijuana plant. Roach said while Barbados is evidently strapped for cash, “we need to return to something that can create some finance for us”.

“Cannabis would be a blessing to Barbados. We have farmers around, we have the African Heritage Foundation that is involved in agriculture. If you decriminalise it, it means that you are still going to have some level of control on it.

“Stop speaking about smoking because everybody doesn’t smoke. In the years when cannabis was rampant, it was about commerce and building homes, building ships, it had nothing to do with smoking,” Roach said.

“Don’t let us allow people to spread this propaganda and put it in our brains that it is as a result of smoking. It is about commerce and we need that commerce.

“I would suggest that Barbados become a little more educated, historically, about cannabis and let us try to advocate for the total legalisation of it so that the farmers and so on can get an opportunity to have an industry that they can make products,” Roach continued.

A household name in Barbados’ disabled community, Bonita Phillips said she has been a strong advocate for medical marijuana because she has multiple sclerosis and has learnt that the medication that is being offered to her is causing her “more damage” than good.

Phillips argued that the she is currently suffering from the side effects of prescribed drugs, and noted that “a lot of us have died because we were taking pharmaceutical drugs which they tell us can kill us and yet we have such fear in using God’s gift to us which man has made illegal”.
“I would like to advocate very strongly for medical marijuana. I would say that any drug we take can damage us, but I don’t know of anybody who can be damaged from marijuana.

“I have advocated, to both [political] parties, for medical marijuana because we are spending so much money in bringing pharmaceutical drugs which didn’t necessary help. I am going through, for the first time, a really bad patch where I could sometimes hardly manage my speech…,” Phillips said. (AH)