Let’s get serious about legalising marijuana
Dear Editor,
The word I would have preferred to use is retarded, but some people might have a problem with that, so I will resort to using dysfunctional. It is my considered opinion that the Government of Jamaica is dysfunctional, to put it mildly.
How can it be otherwise? Why is ganja, weed, marijuana, call it what you will, still illegal in Jamaica in 2021? Yes, we have heard of its mind-altering properties and the ills associated with it, but they pale in comparison to alcohol. When was the last time you heard of an accident caused by someone smoking ganja, as against driving under the influence of alcohol? It is a known fact that ganja has medicinal properties and has played a significant role in curing cancer and eye afflictions, among other things. What good has ever been attributed to alcohol, besides making its manufacturers rich? I rest my case.
The Jamaican Government is not much different from the infamous Maroons who hunted down their fellow Jamaicans at the behest of the colonial masters. The irony of it all is that the very people overseas who are persecuting us, re the weed, have been freeing it up in their space for quite some time now.
Why in God’s name are my tax dollars and the time of the Jamaican police being wasted sniffing out and destroying ganja fields, when out of the other side of the Government’s mouth they tout freeing up the weed? Some might argue that they are simply enforcing the laws on the books, but I have a question for them: What about the low-hanging fruit, like motorcyclists riding about daily sans helmets and licences and killing themselves off on a weekly basis?
And, why the deafening silence from people like the formerly strident Orville Silvera, or has he been co-opted by Big Pharma?
I take back the word dysfunctional; unfortunately, the Jamaican Government’s condition is far worse.