Marijuana reform high on Opposition parliamentary agenda

As the 12th Parliament gets underway following its opening on Tuesday, the Alliance For Change (AFC) said that having legislative reform in relation to the possession of small amounts of marijuana is something high on its parliamentary agenda.
“There will be some bills that we will urgently want to deal with, one of which is the possession of small amounts of marijuana – I call it the ‘Carrington Bill’ – to see how fast we can get that pass. Lots of people have been lobbying that it be passed. Some people are amending it [to] include that we decriminalise possession but we might not be going that far,” AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan, who served as Public Security Minister in the former APNU/AFC Administration, said during a press conference on Friday.
The AFC – the minority party in the coalition – has long been pushing for legislative reform to the local narcotics law, which imposes a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum sentence of five years on persons found with even the least amount of narcotics.
In fact, former AFC parliamentarian, Michael Carrington had filed a motion in the 11th Parliament seeking to soften penalties for marijuana possession. The draft bill had stipulated that persons who are found in possession of the drug for personal use would be required to pay a fine of $10,000, or perform community service for a period of time.
But that motion was subsequently withdrawn for further amendments on sentencing and marijuana decriminalisation. While the amendments were scheduled to be re-tabled, it was taken off the Order Paper.
However, the former David Granger-led APNU/AFC Cabinet in July 2019 approved a proposal for the removal of custodial sentences for persons found with up to 30 grams of marijuana in their possession. The proposal provides for the quantity, which constitutes a trafficking in cannabis offence, to be increased to one thousand grams.
The then Ministry of the Presidency had noted that while possession of the narcotic remains an offence, persons will not be sentenced to terms of imprisonment as obtained in the past.
Following that Cabinet decision, the next step was amending the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Control Act, in the National Assembly, to remove custodial sentences for possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana.
In addition to marijuana reforms, Ramjattan told reporters on Friday that the coalition is currently working on its long-term parliamentary agenda but noted the budget will be a priority for this first quarter of the 12th Parliament.
Only Friday, it was reported that the PPP/C Government will be presenting its first Budget for the remainder of the 2020 fiscal year next Wednesday.
The new Government has already indicated that wants the budget to pass by October 10.
This would mean that the debates and consideration of estimates will have to be completed within a month’s time of the budget presentation.
Asked whether the APNU/AFC Opposition would be open to this time crunch to allow for a speedy passage of the budget, Ramjattan pointed out that the coalition has a “collective decision-making process” on such major matters.
But the AFC Leader noted that for his party, its position will be dependent on the contents of the budget.
“Crunching the time, realising indeed we’re in the last quarter thereabout and needing a budget, will impress me. I think that is a cogent argument to compress it. But what the contents are will be vital and that is where I think my party’s leadership and the APNU’s leadership are going to want to see the contents before we can make an assessment as to whether we crunch it or not. Content is very important,” he asserted.
The 12th Parliament was opened on Tuesday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, with the new Administration already presenting and passing in excess of $11.2 billion for 16 constitutional agencies.
However, the passage of those agencies’ budget was done in the absence of the APNU/AFC Opposition, whose members had walked out of the National Assembly sitting in protest over the election of the Deputy Speaker. (G8)