cannabisnews.com: Jamaican Senate Debate Creating MJ Commission!





Jamaican Senate Debate Creating MJ Commission!
Posted by FoM on July 23, 1999 at 19:08:23 PT
Source: CNN
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - The Jamaican Senate on Friday began debating a motion that would create a national commission on marijuana and would cleanse criminal records for those charged with possession of small amounts of the drug.
Sen. Trevor Munroe presented the motion that would set up the commission and all clear some criminal charges from the records of marijuana offenders, but not from those charged with the intent to sell the drug. The commission would study the "ganja situation in Jamaica" for six months and then produce a report, Munroe said. Marijuana is known as ganja throughout most of the Caribbean. Munroe, a University of the West Indies political science professor and former Rhodes Scholar, also called for the establishment of a center that would study medical uses for marijuana. However, Munroe said Friday his motion is not about making marijuana legal in Jamaica and it would not affect the country's anti-drug treaties with other nations and international organizations. However, he said he believes marijuana offenses are too harshly punished. "It cannot be right and it cannot be just to continue to criminalize Jamaicans for private personal use of ganja, while more toxic substances -- namely alcohol and cigarettes -- used in public in excessive quantities attract no criminal sanction," Munroe said. The debate on the measure is to continue in parliament next week. Web posted at: 8:04 PM EDT (0004 GMT) Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.
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