Marijuana and Crime - Trinidad Guardian

[Tetramiel]

The Government’s latest suggestion to tackle our crime problem is to deny bail to anyone in possession of firearms or drugs. On the surface this sounds sensible but the proposal associates two distinct offenses under one umbrella, when there are clear distinctions. Guns are tools of violence, designed to harm and kill people. Yes, people get killed over drugs, and in some situations people also die from taking drugs, but to say firearms and drugs are equivalent is disingenuous.


While it’s fair to say that no drugs (legal and illegal) are good for children and teenagers—or persons with potential chemical imbalances—various drugs (legal and illegal) have different “lethality” rates. Lethality is how scientists analyse the safety margin of a drug, i.e. how many times the standard dosage does one have to take to risk immediate death.


Professor Robert Gale, who has studied the relative risk of recreational drugs for the last 20 years, suggests that marijuana—in the context of lethality—is 100 times safer than alcohol or cocaine. Now, of course, addiction and substance abuse of any kind, legal or illegal, is problematic for everyone—the drug taker, their friends and family, the wider society—but the Government’s proposal to refuse bail for anyone held for marijuana, for example, is not about rehabilitation.


Arresting someone for recreational drug use with no hope of bail will not reform the person arrested or impact the drug industry. In the main, it actually creates more criminals. Some criminologists note that recidivism rates are high and growing because the jail experience makes a person more likely to commit future crimes.


This is due to the environment of a prison wherein an offender makes new criminal contacts, learns how to be a better criminal, and also receives a criminal record that inhibits possible future jobs.


If this is the case, does it make sense to take a zero-tolerance approach against those caught with drugs? No bail for the possession of firearms makes sense—it takes a gunman off the street; but to arrest people for minor, non-violent drug offenses like possession of marijuana, stamp them as criminals, and then consign them to a second-class life? Really?

Let’s not forget that if we are talking about locking up young men for marijuana without bail we are ignoring a fundamental fact of life—young people will make mistakes, especially those who are already society’s victims due to poverty, abuse, broken-down neighbourhoods and support networks. Should we be punishing youthful mistakes or help the young person who makes them?

And here it is important to highlight that young men who make mistakes from our more wealthy neighbourhoods and communities are not treated in the same way as the young men from our poor neighbourhoods who make the same mistake. When the children of those with money and contacts act out and get in trouble, sometimes for drugs, or fights, the response is often to support them, get them counselling, send them to the Mount.

A support network is often put in motion too and the young person will get help in turning their life around. Not to mention expensive lawyers who oft times seem to discover magic ways of getting charges thrown out or lessened. Why have we made a society where we punish the children of one class group more than the children of another class group?

We cannot simply arrest our way out of the drug problem. We need to treat the drug problem as a public health issue, not just a law enforcement one. And we need more radical thinking than class warfare, sprinkled with historical race politics. Pushing people into the arms of the criminal world for something vast numbers have done and will do is self-defeating.

Now here is a radical proposal many might be uncomfortable hearing. It is one that reflects the local cultural and social use of marijuana in this country for over 150 years, and it reflects the science surrounding drugs and addiction. Decriminalise or legalise marijuana. Like the legal-drug alcohol, tax, regulate, and educate people about it. Have the young men who want to work in such an industry train in horticulture, marketing, and entrepreneurship.

The shift could reduce prison populations, halt the increase in new criminals, and change the culture of punitive interventions and war-like repression, providing some jobs and a way out of what is currently a criminal enterprise. And you can still arrest without bail any and all the people carrying unlicensed firearms.

• Dr Dylan Kerrigan is an anthropologist at UWI, St Augustine

http://www.guardian.co.tt/columnist/2013-03-04/new-plan

[bluesteel29]

nobody aint got time fuh dat.....morney haffi mek

[dougla_boy]

pic for reference

[teems1]

Legalize but tax it to high heaven..

I'd much rather buy marijuana from Witco instead of the guy on the corner. That way I'm sure it's not laced with anything else to make it more addictive or to add weight.

Also the use of vaporizers helps consumption without all the carcinogenic by products...

[pete]

I fully support the decriminalization of Marijuana possession up to a certain quantity.

Confiscate and hit them a fine and leave it as that.

But.. Lawyers hadda eat ah food so why fight down the system..

[bluesteel29]

I fully support the decriminalization of Marijuana possession up to a certain quantity.

Confiscate and hit them a fine and leave it as that.

But.. Lawyers hadda eat ah food so why fight down the system..

y must i be fined for something that has been put on earth for me?...cannabis iz a plant/flower plain n simple.

[MG Man]

I'd love to see the road fatality stats for alco vs 'erb
How many drivers bep off or lose control after one spliff too many and cause a fatal accident, as compared to the same stats for drivers who've had one drink too many

[dougla_boy]

allyuh eh tired have this argument?


steupsssss.......


imagine u get ketch with 1 seed, 1 seed!!! u know how much years getting? LOL

[Sky]

Legalize but tax it to high heaven..

I'd much rather buy marijuana from Witco instead of the guy on the corner. That way I'm sure it's not laced with anything else to make it more addictive or to add weight.

Also the use of vaporizers helps consumption without all the carcinogenic by products...

A blends company is the LAST place I would wanna buy weed from!!

[dougla_boy]

Legalize but tax it to high heaven..

I'd much rather buy marijuana from Witco instead of the guy on the corner. That way I'm sure it's not laced with anything else to make it more addictive or to add weight.

Also the use of vaporizers helps consumption without all the carcinogenic by products...

A blends company is the LAST place I would wanna buy weed from!!

ent!!!

[ruffneck_12]

why dey doh ban stingin nettle?

[Rooki3]

lol @ hippies who come out of the woodwork with stats abt how weed harmless & natural

[teems1]

lol @ hippies who come out of the woodwork with stats abt how weed harmless & natural

[bluesteel29]

lol @ hippies who come out of the woodwork with stats abt how weed harmless & natural

hear nuh...how much sugar cake n red mango goin for dese days...now dun bun ah channapak so ya know how it iz

[fouljuice]

y must i be fined for something that has been put on earth for me?

[Stephon.]

Ugh ... The weed vs alcohol argument is so pointless. Potheads make so much excuses, at least alcoholics don't make excuses for themselves, potheads on the other hand got justification for everythingggggg..

[DrunkenMaster16]

^^^ so whats your excuse??? oh yeah you were born that way.

if america the place we so want to be like and also one of the tougher anti drug nations can legalize in certain states why we can't have it legal in toco and moruga??? (just joking) honestly if trinidad was a mini Amsterdam with taxes and regulations in place... the government could eat ah food on d ganja men without causing more crime and also eliminating the threat of dirty weed (laced)

anyway we are years away from this happening here.. so until then ah go jink and drive..just like d police doin.

[Stephon.]

My excuse for what? I don't make excuses for smoking weed or drinking alcohol. Like everything there are positives and negatives to it. It's just that weed smokers never acknowledge the negatives of smoking weed as if there is none.

[Anna J]

It's just that weed smokers never acknowledge the negatives of smoking weed as if there is none.

Weed smokers don't 'never acknowledge' the negatives, but compared to the amount of alcohol-related accidents/incidents involving the user and in many cases, other innocent persons, the negatives of weed appear relatively non-existent.

[Stephon.]

But the FACT is there are negative effects of smoking weed no matter how big or small. Goes back to my original point that weed smokers use the negative effects of other substances to justify smoking weed. Not that I am saying that you should never smoke weed but I'm just sayin, weed smokers have the most excuses.

[zoom rader]

I said this time and time again on tuner, free de herb now.

[shaha87]

They (The Government) could legalise it for a period of time and monitor the crime levels. See if the crime level decreases or increases, They should also allow a person to have a certain amount and those who have in excess should be put in jail.

Just an idea though.

[bluesteel29]

Ugh ... The weed vs alcohol argument is so pointless. Potheads make so much excuses, at least alcoholics don't make excuses for themselves, potheads on the other hand got justification for everythingggggg..

excuses for what exactly?....
jess like everything in life too much of something not good for you.

[teems1]

Ugh ... The weed vs alcohol argument is so pointless. Potheads make so much excuses, at least alcoholics don't make excuses for themselves, potheads on the other hand got justification for everythingggggg..

Since there are so many excuses potheads make, can you please share with us some of them?

[mero]

i actually agree with Stephon. I laugh at weedheads who try to make "intelligent" arguments especially the alcohol one with the "alcohol does cause more deaths fadda!! Weed never kill nobody fadda" and the "economy" like if rasta man ganja planter Winston gonna register his business and pay NIS.

No one in Trinidad goes crazy for local grown weed and the real "high grade" you get in Amsterdam/Canada etc is dam expensive, so the same wealthy individuals who already own everything here gonna dominate these markets importing and to an extent growing their own high grade weed, which is very expensive to maintain.
Let's be real, who gonna sit down in a coffee shop and smoke local and jam? Local grown marijuana is not economical. Very few ppl will be employed by this tbh so is bess you leave rasta man Winston up in Moruga to plant his fields.

Yes decriminalizing marijuana will lead to : reduction in crime, less clogging up of the judicial systems, the ability to put more focus on serious narcotics , a benefit to some sick ppl as weed is honestly the best remedy for their ailments.

Point is the only reason why the majority push for legalization of weed is cuz they wanna smoke and get fcuking high without being arrested or prosecuted! So stop acting like you give a fcuk about the economy and how much worse alcohol is cuz most of dem is drunks anyway

[Stephon.]

Ugh ... The weed vs alcohol argument is so pointless. Potheads make so much excuses, at least alcoholics don't make excuses for themselves, potheads on the other hand got justification for everythingggggg..

Since there are so many excuses potheads make, can you please share with us some of them?

Have you not read the replies in this thread? :/

I'm not saying weed is horrible or anything, but if someone tells me that they don't like the fact that I smoke weed or that weed is bad you wont hear me making excuses like the next man that smokes weed everyday.

Point is the only reason why the majority push for legalization of weed is cuz they wanna smoke and get fcuking high without being arrested or prosecuted! So stop acting like you give a fcuk about the economy and how much worse alcohol is cuz most of dem is drunks anyway

lol this, not to mention that most weed smokers are actual cigarette smokers and drink alcohol as well so what they saying about they self?

[Ben_spanna]

Like all other substances that can be abused before you can make it legal, outline the procedures and limits for being caught "high" while driving, working etc.... have punishable consequences , give employers the right to FIRE employees who are high on the job and endangering others. Dont just legalize it just so..... put things in place to regulate and restrict it.

[KM_2NR]

We need betel nut