Newsbrief: Jamaican Solicitor General Warns Ganja Decrim Could Violate International Treaties, Invite US Retaliation 12/12/03
As the Jamaican parliament moves toward a vote on the decriminalization of ganja for personal use (
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/312/jamaica.shtml), the government's top lawyer warned legislators Wednesday that the move would violate international anti-drug treaties and draw the ire of the United States. A National Ganja Commission has recommended that "the relevant laws be amended so that ganja can be decriminalized for the private, personal use of small quantities by adults." But Solicitor General Michael Hylton told the Joint Select Committee of Parliament studying ganja decrim that if "the Dangerous Drugs Act is amended to decriminalize the private, personal use of marijuana in small quantities, Jamaica would, in all likelihood, be in breach of certain international obligations in respect of drug control."
Decrim could also lead to decertification by the United States as a good partner in the war on drugs, Hylton warned. "Thus, if Jamaica were to decriminalize marijuana for personal use, there would be a distinct risk that the country would be subject to the sanctions associated with decertification," he said. But Hylton's claims are questionable. The US state of Ohio, for example, has decriminalized the possession of up to 100 grams (or almost a quarter-pound) of marijuana. It has been neither decertified by the United States nor invaded by the United Nations. Still, his remarks were enough to wreak havoc with the pro-decriminalization consensus that had been emerging in the committee. Now, according to the Jamaica Observer, the committee is attempting to rebuild that near consensus.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/...aicavsus.shtml