Cops expecting more drug-related problems

The Government’s decision to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana does not seem to be sitting well with members of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF).

While Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith could not be reached for comment, an official source who asked not to be identified said this afternoon that the rank and file of the force were upset over the measure announced in the Throne Speech on Tuesday by Governor-General Dame Sandra Mason.

“We are going to further breed a society of zombies and it is going to graduate into more gang wars over turf, over the stealing of drugs and the cultivation of drugs,” the senior law official told Barbados TODAY.

He asked if the offence for specific amounts was not arrestable, how would they be able to get the drug user to go to the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) for counselling.

“We see it as a farce,” the source added.

During the Throne Speech, Dame Sandra said a significant amount of the time of law enforcement officers and of Magistrates’ Courts was taken up with dealing with individuals with small quantities of cannabis.

Her Excellency explained that in 2019, 4,295 drug and drug related criminal charges were laid against accused persons and this represented 30 per cent of the criminal charges laid in that year and were brought against 534 persons.

“A large number of these cases are minor, but required the deployment of significant police resources in investigating, processing, taking statements and taking the cases through to trial.  This process has little or no redemptive value and in human terms, a large number of our young men are forever left with the taint of the drug charges and the possible conviction,” the Head of State declared.

“It is imperative that we take immediate steps to find an alternative way of dealing with our young men and women who are found with small quantities of cannabis, so that they are educated about, and treated for their drug use, while at the same time, not trivialising the criminal nature of their conduct,” Dame Sandra stated.

“We will therefore amend our Drug Abuse (Prevention and Control) Act to provide that possession of 14 grams, or half an ounce or less of cannabis is no longer an offence for which one can be arrested, charged and tried; and will therefore not result in an appearance before the Magistrates Court or in a criminal record. The possession will still be unlawful, and will still be punished, but there will be a new approach to how we treat the offender, which is already being used successfully in Jamaica and St. Vincent,” she noted.

Her Excellency told the reopening of Parliament that police may issue a ticket to a person in possession of half an ounce or less of cannabis, similar to a traffic ticket, and the person has 30 days to pay a fine of $200

She said the ticket would be called a “fixed penalty notice”.

The Governor-General informed parliamentarians gathered in the Senate Chambers that a person in possession of half an ounce or less and who is under 18 years, or who is 18 years or older and appears to the police to be dependent on cannabis, would be referred to the National Council on Drug Abuse for counseling, in addition to paying the ticket.

But the source told Barbados TODAY the police believe the new measure was tantamount to opening the “flood gates” and allowing “everybody” to smoke weed.

“…Because this whole thing about people going to the NCSA…the NCSA doesn’t have any judicial powers or discretion to make sure that people follow up, and if they failed to follow up, to issue any sanctions because it is not a judicial body and can’t order community service or find a person in contempt,” the not-too-pleased senior official contended.

He said the police forced feared that a lot of people would therefore fall through the cracks.

“In terms of monitoring and following up, we are saying the money could have been better spent in a drug court rather than relying on the NCSA which is already busy having to look after schools and doing surveys and so on,” he told Barbados TODAY.

The police, he suggested, were also baffled as to how an officer would know if vegetable matter found on an individual was marijuana or not in order to issue a ticket at the time of an intervention. Cannabis is usually taken to a government analyst after confiscation. He questioned whether kits would be issued en masse to the force to test substances to make a determination on the spot.

Only this week, the NCSA issued an official statement in response to the new law.

The state-run agency said that through its counselling service, it is committed to the treatment and recovery of individuals struggling with substance abuse and addiction.

“We are aware that young people continue to use and abuse drugs, and find themselves in trouble with the law and also hamper their health,” stated the council.

“It is against that backdrop that Tuesday’s announcement by Governor General Her Excellency Dame Sandra Mason, to amend the Drug Abuse (Prevention and Control) Act to provide that possession of 14 grams, or half an ounce or less of cannabis is no longer an offence for which one can be arrested, charged and tried, and will therefore not result in an appearance before the Magistrates Court or in a criminal record, has raised concerns among the population,” the statement read in part.

The agency said that with the amendment, the NCSA is expected to see an increase in persons utilising its counselling programme.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb