By Robert Andre Emmanuel

Members of the Marijuana Commission met with the Cabinet on Wednesday to present an interim report on the issue of the impact of the decriminalisation of marijuana.

The Commission was set up in December 2023 by the Cabinet to research the effects of cannabis, primarily on youths, taking into context the current law decriminalising cannabis usage in the country.

The research team, led by Lecturer of the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus, Dr Kwasi Tonge, gave an update on the structuring of their methodology and presentation of their findings.

According to the Cabinet notes, the “anecdotal findings that more youth are experimenting with the substance will be determined by scientific approaches and guarantees of confidentiality”.

The Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Ambassador Lionel Hurst explained that the team would be working to establish that evidence needed by the government.

“What we want to do is to establish the evidence and so a body like the University of the West Indies, with professionals who do these studies all the time we will be able to bring to the population scientific reports on marijuana and its impact on youth,” Hurst said.

Hurst noted that there remained a disconnect among the public between what is acceptable consumption of cannabis.

“It is not legal to carry a spliff between your lips walking up Market Street—not even on Carnival Monday or Tuesday—but what we have done is that we recognised that too many young men were arrested, and charged with possession of small quantities of marijuana and we believe that that was too harmful to them,” he said.

Hurst noted that it was too soon to determine whether the study will produce any legislative or policy changes, but argued that the decriminalisation of marijuana has seen incredible successes in various industries.