by Brian Major
Last updated: 2:03 PM ET, Thu October 2, 2014
PHOTO: Wykeham Mcneill, Jamaica's Minister of Tourism and Entertainment. (Photo by Brian Major)
Jamaica's government is following through on recent efforts to decriminalize marijuana. Lawmakers this week drafted legislation to amend the country's Dangerous Drugs Act to allow marijuana cultivation for medicinal and industrial uses, according to the government-run Jamaica Information Service.
In a JIS statement, Mark Golding, Jamaica's minister of justice, said decriminalization would help create "regulatory regimes to govern the cultivation and use of ganja for medicinal and scientific purposes, as well as non-medicinal industrial hemp."
At a September 30 briefing in Jamaica, Golding said lawmakers are likely to consider possession of two ounces or less a petty offense before the end of 2014. Jamaican parliament members had placed marijuana decriminalization on the agenda for discussion earlier this year.
Golding said he also expects decriminalization for "religious purposes" to be authorized, a reference to Jamaica's Rastafarian culture, which regards marijuana-smoking as a spiritual ritual. He said community members could participate in the activity without fear of arrest.
Golding said Jamaica remains committed to battling narcotics trafficking and will continue efforts to keep marijuana away from children, the international black market and organized crime.
Of course decriminalization in Jamaica could also impact underground tourist-driven marijuana economy, in the least establishing a less stringent version of the current scenario.
While marijuana remains illegal in Jamaica, it is easily available in areas frequented by vacationers. Travelers from the U.S., Jamaica's largest source market, where marijuana tourism is growing, account for a significant percentage of Jamaica's recreational ganja-smokers. Similar situations exist in other Caribbean destinations.
Terrence Nelson, a member of the U.S. Virgin Islands' legislature, said At a Caribbean Tourism Organization conference last month that regional destinations should "adopt and adapt" cannabis as a commodity, saying the proceeds could benefit struggling Caribbean economies. "Most people come to the Caribbean and they anticipate smoking weed," he said.
Nelson, an economist, has sought to have marijuana decriminalized in U.S. Virgin Islands, whose Senate will debate the issue formally in November. Government officials including Kamla Persad-Bissessar, prime minister of Trinidad & Tobago, Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Michael Dunkley, Bermuda's public safety minister, have all recently discussed decriminalization in Caribbean destinations.
"It's a very fundamental issue," said Wykeham McNeill, Jamaica's minister of tourism and entertainment, at a media briefing at the recent Jamaica Product Exchange conference. "What we want to do is decriminalize marijuana so that if persons are caught smoking the most they would be subject to is a fine. That process is underway."
He added, "We in Jamaica have been at the forefront of medical usage of marijuana. We are trying to make sure we have proper rules and regulations to do that."
McNeill joked, "I'd have to ask the Jamaica Tourist Board and our representatives how we would market marijuana." He then added, "Jamaica is far more than [marijuana]. What we have in terms of experiences in Jamaica is huge."
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