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Caribbean Life, D 6 ec. 27, 2019-Jan. 2, 2020
NEW WEED LAW TAKES EFFECT
the region to move to overhaul stifling
and draconian narcotics laws, which
had seen hundreds of mostly young
men being sent to prison over the decades
for merely possessing a spiff for
personal rather than commercial use
or trafficking. The prison system also
complained about overcrowding pressure
this placed on correctional facilities.
Caribbean leaders had back in 2014
taken a decision to have a commission
look at the entire marijuana issue in
the wake of law amendments worldwide.
The commission visited every
member nation for town hall and other
meetings. Overwhelming feedback from
these sessions suggested that the time
had come to have a fresh look at laws
and to allow for decriminalization rather
than legalization, allowing people
to possess and use specific amounts
of the plant mostly for medicinal, religious
and personal uses. So Far Jamaica,
Belize, Antigua and a few others
have moved to implement new rules,
including controlled farm cultivation
for export to western nations.
On Monday Attorney General Faris
Al Rawi led a government team to the
high courts to apply for the release from
prison of more than 100 persons, 14 of
them children, who are either serving
time or are on remand for marijuana
possession. The application also included
a request for police to remove fingerprints
from databases of this group and
to expunge their criminal convictions.
“We asked for in the sec ond re lief, we
asked for a de c la ra tion that those persons
iden ti fied would have the right to
ap ply to Her Ex cel len cy the pres i dent
for a par don. The judge re served on
that point be cause an en ti tle ment to do
some thing he said he want ed to think
about. If we were to leave that to nor mal
course, it would mean that every sin gle
per son would have to make in di vid ual
ap pli ca tions to the court come up when
the re mand date comes up, it would just
take months if not longer for the ben e fit
of the law to be set tled,” the AG said.
The new rules have some safeguards.
Persons are banned from smoking in
public places to avoid a free for all and
in front of or near children. The AG also
said that police would be on the lookout
for persons driving or operating
machinery while high on weed.
Critics say the move by Trinidad
could put pressure on more conservative
governments like Guyana, which
is yet to address the issue to the extent
as the others. Police, have however, not
been arresting and charging persons for
personal usage of marijuana based on
signals from authorities.
Continued from Page 1
Gang database ensnares many
social media monitoring and other forms
of digital surveillance; invest in additional
credible messenger programs and expand
resources for gang-involved people.
Others include: Divest from overly
aggressive policing and instead invest in
increased public health programs, sustainable
housing, employment development,
schools, conflict transformation
and alternative accountability models like
restorative justice; and investigate and
audit current gang suppression practices
by the NYPD, as well as collaboration with
local and federal prosecutors.
Earlier this year, CUNY School of Law
released a new report on the “Bronx 120”
federal gang takedown of 2016, the largest
gang takedown in the city’s history.
The report showed how many of those
targeted by the NYPD and federal prosecutors
weren’t alleged to be gang members,
had no prior felonies and were not even
accused of violence.
In 2017, activists and attorneys demanded
an investigation into NYPD gang tactics
by the department’s Inspector General.
“The NYPD’s punitive and over-inclusive
gang database has ensnared thousands
of our clients, many who have never
even been convicted of a crime,” said
Anthony Posada, Supervising Attorney of
the Community Justice Unit at The Legal
Aid Society. “This campaign will build
on our work to illuminate the abuses of
this practice. New York City must follow
the example led by other jurisdictions
and abolish its gang database once and
for all.”
Lisa Schreibersdorf, executive director
of Brooklyn Defender Services, said:
“Gang databases often hinge on thin evidence
that does not stand up to scrutiny,
yet they are maintained because of the
power of the gang label to inspire fear,
drive aggressive policing and prosecutions,
and ultimately yield harsher outcomes
for the people we represent, including
deportation based on the most trivial
of offenses.
“Among other necessary reforms, it’s
time to end the criminalization of friendship
and community and dismantle the
gang database, which only further institutionalizes
profiling-based policing,” she
added.
Continued from Page 1
Trinidad and Tobago’s Attorney
General, Faris Al-Rawi. Faris Al-Rawi
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