In recent days public discussion on the legalization and commercialization of marijuana has gone to another level with some claiming ‘victory’ for having caused it to happen. As The Pentecostal Assemblies of the West Indies, some of the Christian values we espouse include sobriety, self-control and sound mind. It is such values that have led us to actively discourage the use by our members of other pant derivatives such as tobacco and alcohol or anything to any level that would compromise these values. That has been the unequivocal public stance of our fellowship PAWI International since 1916.
Hence it is with regret that we find ourselves having to write to you in respect to this matter. We are writing to implore you to choose not this path of destruction for the nation. It may sound like an overreach to use the word destruction, but it is not far from the truth should our small 238 square-mile country be flooded with the mass growing and open smoking, eating and drinking of marijuana based products. We believe the social and moral cost of pursuing this course of action will in the not too distant future far outweigh any economic benefit for the nation.
Honorable Members of Parliament, we are willing to present reasoning and research to support our statement. Some would say that we have been given that opportunity. Tokenism is not consultation. Our first invitation as a fellowship to consult on this was on a zoom consultation in June of this year, two days before the event. Most of our pastors and leaders were previously booked. Thirty plus ‘religious’ leaders of various spiritual persuasions sat in on that consultation. That is hardly representative considering that our fellowship alone which comprises 22 churches can field over a hundred leaders, representing our thousands of members. It is however only then that we were informed by Dr. Gilbertha St. Rose that this process began in July 2019, and that the committee had already tendered their report.
As I understand it, it was only because you the Cabinet had directed that the committee go back and engage churches and religious leaders that this rash meeting was held. I say ‘rash’ because it did not feel consultative but a tacit appeal to fall in line. Rash because when the follow-up meeting that the attendees requested came some two weeks later on, our office only became aware of it on the afternoon prior. Again all the executors of our fellowship were otherwise engaged. We were told that coming out of that meeting, that the religious bodies under the auspices of the RAC should craft a joint response. We are not aware that one had been presented; given that we have not been contacted by anyone to lend our voice to the joint response drafted. Yet it has come to our attention via social media and some news outlets that the Cabinet of Ministers have agreed to fully legalize marijuana for personal, medicinal, commercial and sacramental use, having consulted with all parties. Hence, our use of the word tokenism.
Ministers, our heart and call from God for a nation as Christians is to promote and advocate for the total welfare of that nation, spiritually and in matters of business and everyday life. We are to ‘seek for the welfare of the land’ and ‘pray that the land would be healed’ and contribute to the wholistic flourishing of the nation. Because of this we cannot sit idly by and see our nation take a turn that will ultimately result in its degradation and eventual ruin.
We intend to subsequently present to you the Cabinet and then the public at large the following arguments and more:
-How committing the limited resources of our land to marijuana farms instead of ‘essential crops’ and food security is unwise and unsustainable.
-Why the cost of treatment for the exponential increase in marijuana-related sicknesses; mental, physical and psychological will finally out-weigh the assumed profit of being a cannabis producer.
-Why if we want to go the way of medicinal raw material and products that we explore other indigenous plants already used in various medicinal ways for commercial exploration. We can import the supposed medicines created from cannabis and let those other countries deal with the consequences. We note that other medicinal products are subjected to rigorous testing over decades where side effects are clearly documented before the medicine is made available for prescription or use. We are yet to see evidence of this for medical marijuana.
-Why ‘legally operated farms’ will not compete with the unregulated farms that will increase both in the quantity produced as well as the potency and hence desirability of the drug. Go see the hills of Mount Gimie.
-How the youth and education system of cities around the world that were first proponents of legalization and free use of marijuana have become the suffering lab rats of this social experiment.
-We will present testimonials of persons in our community who have suffered directly or indirectly because of marijuana use. In too many cases using it is not far away from starting to abuse it.
-That the claim that the Bible supports the smoking of marijuana is spurious at best and is interpretative malpractice.
-That unlike other ‘free expression actions’, just like the smoking of cigarettes, next door neighbors and fellow passengers become unwitting second hand participants in respiratory Russian roulette. But do note this is worse than cigarettes.
-We may see scope for considering not incarcerating everybody for the smallest of possessions and use; that other mitigating approaches can be established.
-But at the same time we cannot have unfettered and unchecked use. This is a Pandora ’s Box for a small nation.
As custodians of Saint Lucia, we implore you to reconsider. Do a mental extrapolation. What kind of social environment do you observe in the enclaves of Saint Lucia where marijuana use is a given and rampant? I venture to say that it is not one that most of you would want to live in or raise your children and grand-children. We can name such places. These are spaces that our police fear to tread. Now imagine these environments spreading across the nation. Here, we speak prophetically. It will happen if the authorities that be let it happen.
Have the following questions been fully addressed and done so by independent non-lobbyists?How will the medical marijuana be accessed by pharmacies and doctors for prescription to patients? Who will grow the marijuana and distil the appropriate derivatives for the medical fraternity to use? What standards will be applied to the quality of derivatives for medical use? Will there be clear guidelines for prescribing medical marijuana for the use of patients or will doctors be left to experiment? How will the side-effects be dealt with as they are noted by the medical community? Will the rigorous scientific testing applied to other medicines be applied to marijuana derivatives before the medical community is allowed to prescribe the substances for patients? How will the legal framework address who grows/imports/exports marijuana?
Given that differences in marijuana plants lead to differing strengths of derivatives how will this be controlled so that persons electing to use marijuana recreationally can obtain a consistent product or will this be a free-for-all? How will safety of minors be addressed, particularly in light of those studies that suggest adolescents and pre-adolescents are more susceptible to negative psychological and medical consequences for using marijuana? Given the lengthy process that we have had in moving towards the actual testing of drunk drivers locally, how will we deal with those who use marijuana resulting in impaired driving?
Given that some studies have shown that some people are affected negatively by the use of marijuana, how will we handle psychological and medical health problems that may arise for some of our people? Can the numbers and percentages of persons who have been treated or are being treated at the Psychiatric Hospital for marijuana related health issues be made public? Do we have the resources to socially and psychologically assist the families of those who are negatively impacted by on-going marijuana use? Will there be areas where its use will be restricted as with tobacco, given that many people suffer from bronchial and other challenges as a result of second-hand smoke?
We note with concern that when tobacco was first discovered in America by Europeans explorers it was thought to have medicinal value, and was prescribed as a cure for a number of ailments including stuttering. Centuries later we know there is no truth to such claims and tobacco products are routinely labelled with health warnings.
It is for the reasons and questions we have stated, we are absolutely opposed to the legalization of marijuana for recreational use and strongly urge that Saint Lucia not go down this road. Having made these brief remarks, our appeal to the Cabinet is that you shift the nation away from this marijuana mission of some.
We encourage the undertaking of a truly thorough and independent study and a more honest and fully open consultation with the public of Saint Lucia especially the mothers and fathers and the masses that are not part of the cannabis lobby. In so doing you may very well save this nation from entering covenant with calamity.
