No easy fix

The decriminalisation of marijuana for recreational use will not necessarily lead to a reduction in drug-related violence, lawmakers have been warned.

Less than a month after Minister of the Environment and National Beautification Trevor Prescod declared that there was no harm in using a “little” marijuana, a former police Senior Superintendent and two social activists have weighed in on the situation.

While two of them have cautioned Government to tread carefully, another well-known activist believes the marijuana trade can be separated from deviant factions in society if possession of it is no longer a crime.   

Retired Senior Superintendent of Police, Vincent Springer who spent over 33 years in the force argued that legalisation of the drug would not prevent illegal importation of it, a major factor influencing violence.

He predicted that legalising the substance would result in an increased demand, which could not be satisfied by local production.

“Are you going to set up some sort of structure which would allow the drugs to come in to an appointed place or are you going to leave it the same way where it comes in on the shores of Barbados?” asked Springer, once a prominent figure in the drug fight and head of the Royal Barbados Police Force’s Drug Squad.

The former crime sleuth noted that factors like poverty and scarcity of the drug would continue to attract criminal elements.

“It still costs money to buy the same drug that you want to use and people will want to buy more because they don’t have to worry or hide and they will want much more drugs now, even if they don’t have the money. Where is the individual going to get that extra money from?” asked Springer.

He suggested: “It calls for a careful study to show the spinoffs, not only the backlog in the court, but health wise. I would like someone to explain to me when you decriminalise it, what are the objectives,” he said.

Although the current legislation is aimed at legalising the use of cannabis for medicinal use, Government has indicated that making the drug available for recreational use will be decided by a referendum.

Meanwhile, social activist Bobby Clarke said based on his work as a lawyer he believed most of Barbados’ 40 homicides this year were drug-related. He however expressed doubt that legalisation would reduce drug-related offences unless government was able to better control its cultivation, importation and distribution as well as the country’s deeply entrenched violent culture.

“Why are people walking around in our communities with guns?” asked Clarke.

“A solution isn’t just passing a law saying you can smoke it. That does not help the problem, with all due respect to Mr. [Trevor] Prescod. How do we instill cultural values? We can’t just condemn them and blame them. You have to find ways and means of utilising their lives, their education and what they do. We need to make them understand that after they leave school they can enter a proper job… and have a purpose,” he said.

Spokesperson for the Ichirouganaim Council for the Advancement of Rastafari, Peter Adonijah Alleyne on the other hand argued that removing the criminality associated with the substance would reduce the growing instances of drug-related robbery and violence. But he cautioned leaders not to blindly group marijuana use with the country’s problems with violence.

“The problem of solving violence is not a cannabis problem, that is a social problem, which has come about because too many young people feel detached from the system. The education system has divorced them from society and they don’t feel attached to society in any way,” he said.

If cannabis was responsible for the breakdown of society, he argued, society would have been “totally” broken down a long time ago, because the cannabis trade was already deeply entrenched in society.

“It [cannabis] is sending children to school, supporting families, taking care of communities and unfortunately, because of the wicked laws we have, these things are forced to take place in a criminal environment. But if common sense prevails, as it should, you would not have these laws or the whole aura of criminality,” Adonijah said. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb