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Simplepowa
In Pursuit of Knowledge


Registered: 03/06/09
Posts: 4,310
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Jamaica lawmakers debate pot decriminalization
#18902736 - 09/28/13 12:58 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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AP News Jamaica lawmakers debate pot decriminalization By By David Mc Fadden September 25, 2013
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Lawmakers on Tuesday debated a proposal to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use by adults in Jamaica, where many islanders are expressing weariness with current drug policy.
There is no bill drafted or vote scheduled, however, and various government administrations have talked about the issue for decades. But it's lately become a budding topic among Jamaicans, with some arguing that pot could become a major force for the struggling legitimate economy if it was no longer relegated to the underground.
Some lawmakers complained that current law results in about 300 young men receiving criminal records each week for possessing small amounts of "ganja," creating a growing pool of unemployable people on the Caribbean island.
"There is no doubt that ganja can have harmful effects on an individual. But this does not warrant criminalization of thousands of Jamaicans for their personal choice and use, some for reasons deep-rooted in culture," said opposition lawmaker Daryl Vaz, a former information minister.
Minister of State for Tourism & Entertainment Damion Crawford agreed, saying too many Jamaicans face a lifelong stigma that comes with a drug conviction involving a small amount of pot.
"For personal use, the punishment of a criminal record is too much," said Crawford, the son of a Rastafarian.
The discussion centered on a motion introduced by governing party lawmaker Raymond Pryce. He says there is great academic and commercial potential in decriminalizing a plant that has long been part of Jamaica's history, saying there is no shortage of evidence that the plant has medical and therapeutic value.
Marijuana has been pervasive but prohibited on the island since 1913. It's generally grown on remote mountainsides and in marshes and swamps. Besides recreational use, marijuana has long been used as a medicinal herb by rural people and as a spiritual sacrament by Rastafarians.
In 2001, a government-appointed commission said marijuana was "culturally entrenched" in Jamaica and recommended legalizing the private use and possession of small amounts by adults. It argued that penalizing individuals for having or cultivating small quantities of pot was "unjust" and discredited the entire legal system.
Even though the report received approval from a parliamentary committee, the decriminalization effort stalled largely due to anxiety over angering the United States, which has spent millions on local eradication efforts.
But now that a growing number of U.S. states are loosening their pot laws, and voters in and Washington and Colorado legalized it, some advocates say the old fear is now baseless. Late last month, the U.S. Justice Department said it would not challenge states that want to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana.
"Now that the Obama administration has given Colorado and Washington a qualified green light to proceed with legally regulating and taxing marijuana, there is no way that U.S. diplomatic representatives can credibly tell Jamaica, or anyone else, that they can't do the same," Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, said in an email.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-09-25/jamaica-lawmakers-debate-pot-decriminalization
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Carl Sagan - "Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people." --- Robert Pirsig - "When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion." --- Brian Cox - "[One] problem with today’s world is that everyone believes they have the right to express their opinion AND have others listen to it. The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense."
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Nymphaea
Money-less Wanderer



Registered: 04/16/09
Posts: 2,057
Loc: Mitten
Last seen: 2 days, 16 hours
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Re: Jamaica lawmakers debate pot decriminalization [Re: Simplepowa]
#18903010 - 09/28/13 02:21 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Yea, if they let Colorado and Washington experiment, why wouldn't they let Jamaica do what it wants.
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Plant Trees
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Rockhound
The Rockweiler



Registered: 01/19/13
Posts: 664
Loc: hell creek anticline
Last seen: 8 years, 7 months
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Re: Jamaica lawmakers debate pot decriminalization [Re: Nymphaea]
#18904154 - 09/28/13 07:35 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Once states and countries see how much bud tax revenue comes in for colorado and washingon, they will trip over each other in the race to legalize it
-------------------- Rocks speak to me, and tell me this: The Hell Creek formation is a gigantic slab of rocks that covers several western states. It contains an account of the dinosaurs' demise. In the late Cretaceous period, the first Cannabis species appear, and soon after, all the non-bird dinosaurs disappeared. Obviously, marihuana killed the dinosaurs. That giant meteor that smacked the yucatan peninsula right afterwards, coincidence.
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hidenseek1
Its got all the dinks.
Registered: 12/22/12
Posts: 5,423
Loc: poop
Last seen: 6 years, 10 months
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Re: Jamaica lawmakers debate pot decriminalization [Re: Rockhound]
#18904634 - 09/28/13 09:26 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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pot is illegle in Jamaica?
-------------------- You can drink at 7 A.M., because the Beastie Boys fought for that right -------------------------------------------------------------------------- pons asinorum -------------------------------------------------------------------------- lsd and the vietnam war changed music forever
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Rockhound
The Rockweiler



Registered: 01/19/13
Posts: 664
Loc: hell creek anticline
Last seen: 8 years, 7 months
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Re: Jamaica lawmakers debate pot decriminalization [Re: hidenseek1]
#18904885 - 09/28/13 10:30 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Believe it or not, yes it is illegal, though usually overlooked.
-------------------- Rocks speak to me, and tell me this: The Hell Creek formation is a gigantic slab of rocks that covers several western states. It contains an account of the dinosaurs' demise. In the late Cretaceous period, the first Cannabis species appear, and soon after, all the non-bird dinosaurs disappeared. Obviously, marihuana killed the dinosaurs. That giant meteor that smacked the yucatan peninsula right afterwards, coincidence.
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