The draft ganja reform bill, which is intended to repeal custodial sentences for possession of 30 grammes and under of cannabis, is among proposed legislation that has been approved by Cabinet for tabling at the next sitting of the National Assembly, Director General of the Minis-try of the Presidency Joseph Harmon announced yesterday.
Harmon told a press conference at the Ministry of the Presidency that Cabinet approved the draft amendment of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Sub-stances (Control) Amendment Bill 2019 that was submitted to it at its meeting in Linden on April 30th, 2019. He said that Cabinet was assured that the bill in its amended form was in keeping “with the report on CARICOM’s Regional Commission on Marijuana 2018 and was not in conflict with the Tobacco Control Act.”
He explained that through the amendments, government proposes that 30 grammes or fewer of marijuana would not attract incarceration. “Cabinet agreed that the bill will be laid in the National Assembly for passage into law,” he said.
Harmon when asked subsequently was unable to state what penalties will be substituted for the jail time but noted that the bill would provide for alternative treatment rather than incarceration. “So it removes incarceration as a penalty,” he said, before adding that the existing legislation does not offer the magistrate any discretion other than sentencing.
According to Harmon, it is government’s hope that this matter will be dealt with in the National Assembly as quickly as possible.
The government’s announcement on Tuesday of the approval of the bill drew both approval and criticism.
The opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) suggested that the announcement was a “transparent ploy” by the coalition to mislead Guyanese and, in particular, the Rastafarian Community, after it failed to act on the bill for almost four years. The PPP also stressed that without an act of Parliament, talk about removing custodial sentences for possession of small amounts of marijuana “is nothing more than talk.” “It is not a promise fulfilled by the Coalition Government. It is a reminder that this is just another promise that was broken,” it added.
The party further said its position on the issue has been clear for years, while noting that reviewing possession of quantities of marijuana, which attract a mandatory, minimum, jail sentence, was included in the PPP/C’s 2015 elections manifesto. “This issue has been used repeatedly by the APNU+AFC Coalition to secure political mileage, nothing more,” the statement added.
Harmon also announced that Cabinet approved the Restorative Justice Bill 2019. The overarching objective of the bill is to reduce the prison population through measures that will provide for the use of restorative justice in the criminal justice system. “It is envisaged that these measures will include a range of sentences and other means of dealing with offenders outside of the judicial sentencing process as well as consideration for repairs in communities that are damaged by criminal acts and the rights and interest of victims of criminal actions,” he noted.
Harmon later noted that Cabinet also approved a children’s bill intended to give meaning and effect to the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Guyana.
Harmon added that Cabinet directed that bills be laid in the National Assembly in order to be passed into law.
