Jamaica
Smith, Phillip S.
Within the last year, Jamaica's parliamentappointed National Commission on Ganja (marijuana) has called for the decriminalization of marijuana on the island, and the ruling Peoples' National...
...According to local marijuana activists, the ganja commission's recommendations and the PNP's call for debate are now on the back-burner as a government worried by U.S...
...Again, a glowering U.S...
...Last October, the PNP National Executive Council voted to place the party on record as supporting such a debate, but little progress has been made since then...
...Within the last year, Jamaica's parliamentappointed National Commission on Ganja (marijuana) has called for the decriminalization of marijuana on the island, and the ruling Peoples' National Party has endorsed Prime Minister PJ...
...Embassy officers in Kingston quick to warn last summer that Jamaica could face decertification and as a result lose U.S.aid if it moved forward with decriminalization...
...Pat- terson's call for a national debate on the topic...
...reaction and bedeviled by outbreaks of criminal violence quietly backs away from radical change in the marijuana laws...
...But while the PNP may be cooling its heels, the cause of decriminalization has found powerful converts...
...With marijuana's use as a sacrament in the Rastafarian religion, the weed has a popular base in Jamaican society, and various blue-ribbon panels have called for its use to be normalized, but effective legislative action has been slow to materialize...
...presence has been an effective restraint, with U.S...
...Last summer, the Jamaica Gleaner, one of the island's leading media outlets, wrote: "We think it is important to recognize some current realities...neither law nor gentle persuasion will ever eradicate the growth and use of ganja in this society...
Vol. 36 • September 2002 • No. 2
