While it failed over its five-year term in office to decriminalise small amounts of marijuana, opposition APNU+AFC MPs are pledging to push forward with an amendment bill in the 12th parliament.
They say the inactivity of the National Assembly in 2019 due to the passage of the no confidence motion on December 21, 2018 prevented MPs from the Alliance for Change (AFC) segment of the governing coalition from being able to successfully pilot the amendment of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Bill, a bill aimed at easing penalties on possession of small amounts of marijuana.
General Secretary of the AFC David Patterson made the comment when asked by Stabroek News on Friday why his government did not succeed in passing the bill when they had a majority in parliament. Such a bill had been on the AFC agenda since 2015
APNU+AFC parliamentarian Sherod Duncan – who represents the AFC – on Thursday submitted the amendment bill.
The bill is intended to repeal custodial sentences for possession of 30 grammes and under of cannabis.
Duncan said that the opposition will insist that persons imprisoned for small amounts of cannabis be released and that social programmes are implemented to reintegrate them into society in a meaningful way.
Patterson on Friday noted at the AFC’s virtual press conference that it was the David Granger cabinet which had agreed to the amendment of the law and when it comes up for debate in Parliament, they are prepared to push for its successful passage.
Given the fact that the PPP/C administration has no record of supporting opposition tabled bills, he said they will have to speak on the bill and they are prepare to defend it.
Former AFC parliamentarian Michael Carrington in December 2015, had tabled the initial amendments which had been left to languish in legislative purgatory.
Recently, Attorney General Anil Nandlall said that the PPP/C government will soon begin countrywide consultations on the decriminalisation of small amounts of marijuana here.
Former President David Granger had announced in September of 2018 that his Cabinet had approved the removal of custodial sentences for possession of small amounts of marijuana and that the necessary amendments to the existing legislation were to be made.
Nandlall pointed to Granger’s position on the issue as he reminded that at the 39th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, held on the 4th – 6th June 2018, in Montego Bay Jamaica, the Heads of Government considered marijuana, its status as an illicit drug, and the possibilities of decriminalisation, regularisation and or commercialisation.
At that meeting, the report of the Regional Commission on Marijuana, which was compiled after region-wide consultations, was presented for consideration. At the conclusion of the conference, CARICOM Chairman and Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness reported that the regional heads agreed that action is necessary at the national level by the relevant authorities to review the status of marijuana as a schedule one drug, with a view to reclassification.
They also agreed, he said, that each member state would determine its own pathway to pursue the law reforms necessary as proposed by the Commission, in keeping with its own circumstances.
In July 2018, Carrington had told this newspaper that they were preparing to table final amendments by August 2018 but this never occurred.
Carrington had suggested that it was coalition partner APNU that delayed a debate of the bill after it was tabled. Then State Minister and APNU Chairman Joseph Harmon had declined to respond to the assertion. He said that the issue was not about APNU and AFC, but about a member of the government’s side who had tabled a bill which was “being dealt with by the government side. That’s the position.”
Attorney General at the time and APNU member Basil Williams had said that there should be a public vote on the issue, an opinion that Carrington, then Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, and the Guyana Rastafarian Council disagreed with.
Back then Jagdeo, while rejecting the notion of a referendum, had said members of the PPP/C would be allowed to vote according to their conscience if the bill is ever put to a vote in the National Assembly.
At the same time, he had stressed that he was not in favour of people being caught with small amounts of marijuana going scot-free. “Let us find another set of sentencing. Sentence them to community work – clean up a school compound – to rehabilitation,” he had said.
He also added that like the Attorney General, he recognises that segments of the population feel strongly about this matter, one way or another but “however, it is clear that the trend in the Region is in favour of decriminalisation for small quantities.”
“Nevertheless, we will adopt, as we usually do, a consultative route on this matter before coming to our final position. This process will unfold shortly and will be driven by a governmental multi-sector approach,” Nandlall said.
Members of the Opposition with copies of the amended bill that was presented to Parliament on Thursday. In picture from left are Chief Whip Christopher Jones, Members of Parliament Sherod Duncan and Jermaine Figueira and AFC member Michael Carrington
