Dear Editor,
It was with absolute sadness and anger that I read in the Stabroek News on May 4, a news item captioned ‘Miner sentenced to three years for 25 grammes of cannabis’. The unlucky miner is 25-year-old Ravi Dev Mohan who admitted in court to being in possession of 25 grammes of ganja. He is reportedly a father of one. Yes, take that ‘dangerous criminal’ away from his young child for 3 years just for having 25 grammes of marijuana.
Imagine that in this day and age, Guyana is jailing people for being in possession of small amounts of ganja. But it’s not like we have a prison over-crowding problem. No banna…everything good….especially when you’re a politrickian/policy-maker.
Guyana is suffering from being governed by power-hungry, greedy and utterly uncaring people!. And this has been happening for years. The PPP is as guilty as the PNC/APNU/AFC/Coalition. This is certainly not about politricks, notwithstanding, that the APNU had as part of their manifesto – their intent to alter the current draconian marijuana laws! And APNU was the party responsible for the postponement of the reading of the Bill in the Parliament that Michael Carrington of the AFC is responsible for. The Bill by Carrington was drafted by two respectable and prominent attorneys-at-law; Nigel Hughes and Mark Waldron.
It’s called ‘Politricks’ for a reason, folks.
Editor, how does society benefit from a young father being jailed for 3 years for simply being in possession of a few grammes of ganja?
The weed that the young man had on him was probably worth G$10,000. How much will it cost the state to keep him incarcerated for three years? Three million dollars, perhaps? Is it worth it? Don’t we have better things to spend our money on?
Imagine, in a country where people are notorious for alcohol abuse and drunk fighting, and underage drinking, we are jailing young people for simply being in possession of a few grammes of weed. Makes absolute sense…if you are a heartless, uncivilized person.
The world is moving towards legalization but in Guyana, ‘’let’s jail these young, poor people for a little bit of ganja’’ seems to be the order of the days. Way to go, geniuses!
Editor, for the most part, I am an optimist. But when I think about what my brethren and sistren are going through in Guyana, with their ‘leaders’, I get depressed.
But Rastafari Still Rise! One Love
Yours faithfully,
Nicholas De Castro
