De Caires hopeful 2020 is year of change!

Saint Lucia’s Cannabis Commission has not accomplished its initial goal of submitting a report —which would give advice on a legislative and regulatory framework for cannabis—to the government by the end of 2019. Formed in August, the Commission embarked on a public consultation drive in November, making seven stops around the country. At the final town hall meeting on December 9, Commission Chairman Michael Gordon QC told the STAR he was hopeful the report would be submitted on schedule, failing which a mid-January deadline would be the latest.

In an interview on Monday, commissioner Andre de Caires told the STAR the final touches were being made by the sub-committees, and the government would soon have the report. He believes the time to work towards a regulatory framework for cannabis is now. “It doesn’t bother me,” said de Caires on the Commission missing the initial timeline. “I know they’re trying to dot their ‘i’s and cross their ‘t’s and be as detailed as possible in the report. I do realize that the process of legalization is a lengthy one because you have to come up with regulations and legislation, and that takes time, but, after the report, the government has no excuse not to decriminalize, as everybody else is doing.”

On December 23, 2019 marijuana was decriminalized in Trinidad and Tobago. Adults can now have up to 30 grammes of the substance in their possession. Smoking in public or while operating a vehicle is illegal. De Caires applauded this move, saying that decriminalization should be the government’s first action in developing the industry. The Cannabis Movement Chairman acknowledged that this is a crucial decision for the government to make. However, he is hopeful of a decriminalization announcement by the end of January, with full legalization by June.

De Caires insists that cannabis will accomplish much for the country, especially in tackling poverty, which causes a lot of negative situations. A certain section of society, he says, is stuck in a perpetual cycle of poverty. As a result of this he says that a lot of males do not finish school and end up on the block “smoking weed and coming up to no good”. 

Uneducated and jobless, many turn to a life of crime for money. “We cannot save all of them but I know for sure —from hanging out with plenty ghetto yutes—if they had money coming in, they would not commit crime. And most of them, if they know they could get a job growing ganja, they will take that job,” said the activist. “Some of them, like I said, you can’t help them. There’s bad and rotten apples that you’ll never save. But this industry could alleviate a lot of social problems that we have in society.”