THE National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) says it is taking action to stem the prevalence of drug use among young people by educating them.

"Our primary responsibility right now is protecting young people from the negative consequences of using [drugs]," Executive Director of the NCDA, Michael Tucker told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

This comes on the heels of reports that students were ingesting marijuana in candies and the recent legislative amendment to the Dangerous Drugs Act, which created several opportunities for the use of marijuana in Jamaica because of the decriminalisation of small amounts of the weed.

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KINGSTON, Jamaica - Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Anthony Hylton, says Jamaica intends to lead a charge in the United Nations to effect changes to the international treaties concerning marijuana.

The aim is to change the schedule class of marijuana in light of scientific studies that have proven its therapeutic benefits and medicinal value.

"We believe that the schedule in which marijuana is now placed, which is one of the highest schedules as a drug, we believe that it should be removed from that schedule and looked at in the light of... the evidence, which has revealed its strong medicinal (value)," Hylton said, while addressing a session of the recently concluded Jamaica Investment Forum (JIF) at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James.

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THE EDITOR, Sir:

I don't want to be singled out as the naysayer in this euphoria that is surrounding the decriminalisation of marijuana. It would, however, be remiss of me if I did not sound caution and indicate that the very same ingredients that make it positively potent will be progressively problematic if abused.

This is not a view that the plant should not be used and researched and made to benefit Jamaica and Jamaicans; it is a call for care and public education in the use and abuse of this product.

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(AP) - Marijuana has been pervasive but illegal in Jamaica for decades, but on Tuesday night Parliament gave final legislative approval to an act decriminalizing small amounts of it and establishing a licensing agency to regulate a lawful medical marijuana industry. The amendments pave the way for a "cannabis licensing authority" to be established to deal with regulating the cultivation and distribution of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes. Officials say the island's governor-general will soon sign the measure into law. The act makes possession of up to two ounces of marijuana a petty offense that could result in a ticket but not in a criminal record. Cultivation of five or fewer plants on any premises will be permitted. And tourists who are prescribed medical marijuana abroad will soon be able to apply for permits authorizing them to legally buy small amounts.

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EXECUTIVE director of the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA), Michael Tucker, has warned that the misinformation circulating among Jamaicans at this time about marijuana could be dangerous.

"Misunderstanding and misperception is very dangerous in an environment like this," Tucker told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

"There is no legalisation on the table right now... It's not acceptable or legal for any and everybody to grow or sell marijuana. In fact, it's not even legal to buy it. So there is a lot of misunderstanding about what really is happening... more needs to be said, and people need to know what is really happening," he stated.

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KINGSTON, Jamaica - Senators today poked more holes in the legislation now being debated in the upper house to decriminalise ganja.

The Opposition, although agreeing that the law is a good move, are not the only ones asking for the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Bill to be tidied up.

Government Senator, KD Knight, said limiting the cultivation of marijuana to the Rastafarian community was "unfair", while suggesting that allowing the use of ganja for medicinal purposes, would in essence make it legal, even though legalising ganja is not the aim of the Bill.

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Regarding Louis Moyston's excellent column in The Agenda of Sunday, February 1, 2015, Jamaica should by no means let the petty concerns of the 'drug war' official, William Brownfield of the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, stall ganja law reform.

An obsolete United Nations treaty passed in ignorance back in 1961 that violates human rights conventions is no reason for Jamaica to remain stuck in the past. A far more important US representative is US President Barack Obama.

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US Not Comfortable With Jamaica's Push to Decriminalise Weed

WASHINGTON, DC, USA - The United States Government has signalled some discomfort with Jamaica's move to decriminalise marijuana for specific uses.

According to assistant secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), William R Brownfield, there is a possibility that the move could increase inflows of marijuana from Jamaica that now accounts for 80 per cent of ganja illegally smuggled into that country.

Brownfield said that, while the US must be tolerant of national policies to combat the illicit trade of ganja, Jamaica must be mindful of international drug treaties to which it is a signatory.

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THE report 'Ganja worry' (Jamaica Observer, January 29, 2015), presents the thinking of William R Brownfield, assistant secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, on the recent developments of the new ganja regime in Jamaica. He was quick to point out that this change will see increased export of the crop to the United States, and warned of Jamaica's legal obligation to the international treaties.

He speaks as if Jamaica is the only country moving towards change. He is obviously oblivious about changes all over the world, including its major ally Israel. The international treaties Jamaica has signed are not written in stone. They were prepared for a world very much different from the present. Their foundations were built on myths and anecdotal evidence. Since 1922, there have been many commissions and research projects providing scientific studies, dispelling those myth and anecdotal evidence. The time has come to reform those treaties. Who will lead the process in Jamaica?

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THE United States Government says it welcomes discussion and debate on drug policy and that it is up to the people of Jamaica to decide which policies are most appropriate for the country within the realms of international law.

Yesterday's declaration came amidst a Jamaica Observer report suggesting that the US is uncomfortable with recent moves to decriminalise ganja for personal use in Jamaica.

"We recognise that it is important to examine what works and to discuss the trends and challenges our neighbours are facing. The US and Jamaica have a strong law-enforcement and security partnership. Our law enforcement agencies work together to combat transnational criminal networks and international drug trafficking and the violence they breed," Joshua Polacheck, counsellor for public affairs at the US Embassy Kingston, told the Observer.

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KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - Jamaica's Senate on Friday started debating a bill that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot and establish a licensing agency to regulate a lawful medical marijuana industry on the island where the drug has long been pervasive but prohibited.

Justice Minister Mark Golding, who introduced the legislation to the upper house, said it would establish a "cannabis licensing authority" to deal with regulations on cultivation and distribution of marijuana and industrial hemp for medical, scientific and therapeutic purposes.

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