01/03/2008 00:00:00
JAMAICAN government considers legalization of marijuana
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KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) Jamaica is considering the legalization of
marijuana, a drug revered by members of the island's large Rastafarian
population who say smoking it is part of their religion.
A seven-member government commission has been researching possible
changes to the Caribbean nation's anti-drug laws, which some police
complain are clogging courts and jails with marijuana-related cases, a
government official said Friday.
''We have discussed it, and we are preparing a report to present to the
prime minister,'' said Deputy Prime Minister Kenneth Baugh.
In 2003, a government commission recommended legalizing marijuana in
small amounts for personal use. But lawmakers never acted, saying
legalization might entail loss of their country's U.S. anti-drug
certification. Countries that lose it face economic sanctions.
A U.S. State Department report Friday said that Jamaica is the largest
producer of marijuana in the Caribbean and a major hub for drugs bound
for the United States.
Members of the Rastafarian movement, which emerged in Jamaica in the
1930s out of anger over the oppression of blacks, have long lobbied for
the legalization of the drug that they say brings them closer to the divine.
There are an estimated 700,000 Rastafarians in the world, most of them
among Jamaica's 2.6 million people.
http://www.kcbs.com/topic/ap_news.php?story=AP/APTV/National/a/i/Jamaica-Marijuana
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Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13318
Author:
KBCS News via UKCIA
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