“Responsible adult marijuana smokers present no legitimate threat or danger to society, and must not be treated as criminals”
Kingston, Jamaica: NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup testified before members of Parliament on Wednesday in favor of recommendations by the Jamaican National Commission on Ganja to decriminalize the use of marijuana by adults.
“Responsible adult marijuana smokers present no legitimate threat or danger to society, and must not be treated as criminals,” Stroup said before the Joint Select Committee on the Report of the National Commission on Ganja. Jamaica NORML President Paul Chang and Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann also testified at the hearing.
Stroup said, “By stubbornly defining all marijuana smoking as criminal, including that which involves adults smoking within the privacy of their own homes, Jamaica is wasting precious police and prosecutorial resources; clogging the courts; filling costly and scarce jail and prison space that would otherwise house violent offenders; undermining drug education efforts; acting against the best interests of public health and safety; engendering disrespect for the rule of law; and needlessly wrecking the lives and careers of tens of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens every year.”
Stroup also stressed the fact that governments’ may liberalize their marijuana laws without running afoul of international anti-drug treaties. “In recent years, many European nations have replaced criminal penalties for minor drug crimes with ‘administrative sanctions’ by calling on constitutional principles, or by arguing that strict enforcement of criminal prohibition was not in the public interest.”
In 2001, the Report of the National Commission on Ganja recommended Parliament decriminalize marijuana for adults for personal and religious purposes, and partner with other countries to elicit support for a worldwide re-examination of marijuana policies. Parliament has expressed interest in enacting the recommendations by March 2004.
“Jamaica seems committed to the process of decriminalization,” Stroup said.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751. Text of NORML’s written testimony is available online at: