(Jamaica Observer) Cabinet has appointed a ministerial commission to review the recommendations made in the report of the National Commission on Ganja, which was chaired by the late Professor Barry Chevannes and submitted in 2001.
The commission will comprise the foreign minister Ken Baugh; justice minister Dorothy Lightbourne; health minister Ruddy Spencer; agriculture minister Christopher Tufton; youth minister Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange and security minister Dwight Nelson.
The report included several recommendations, including that:
* Parliament decriminalises the use of ganja in small quantities by adults and also as a religious sacrament;
* Government launches a national education programme aimed at reducing the number of young people who use ganja;
* Security forces intensify their interdiction of large scale cultivation of ganja and the trafficking of all illegal drugs;
* Establishment of a Cannabis Research Agency; and
* Government ensures international support for these actions.
