A letter to the editor of a local newspaper: “I wish to refer to an article in the Crusader of 21 August 1971, captioned ‘Marijuana’ and written by Mr. Peter Josie. I have no doubt that Mr. Josie, through both his studies and his own private reading, has gone though volumes on marijuana but in this age when people, especially the adolescents, are looking for kicks, it would be most unfortunate for those people to carry on or start smoking this weed because of his article.
“True, there is certainly no cause for alarm at this stage, and we do not want to give the impression that drugs are being abused in St. Lucia. But there is abundant evidence that the mini-harmful drugs including marijuana and the other hallucinatory drugs are being used in St. Lucia and by a wider and younger section of the community. I agree that psychiatrists are divided on the subject, not only about its effects but also as to whether or not it is habit forming.
“But whereas they have not been able to state categorically that the use of marijuana leads to other drugs, in the majority of cases those who use harsher drugs, such as heroin, stated they had started with marijuana. There is also conclusive evidence that marijuana affects permanently the memory and the ability to concentrate as well as cope with life’s trials. Surely any drug which has such effects is unwanted in a society such as ours. The public may well wish to read research by Dr. Walter X. Lehmann, as contained in the Reader’s Digest of July 1971.”
The author of the revisited letter to the editor of the Crusader was Mr. Julian R. Hunte, mayor of Castries. Several years later, at the time of the 1979 general elections, the St. Lucia Labour Party publicly promised to legalize marijuana should it be elected to office in place of John Compton’s United Workers Party. If to a skeptical large percentage of the electorate the pledge represented further proof that an SLP government would be disastrous for Saint Lucia, what the Rastafarian community heard was the answer to their prayers. It soon became clear how far they were prepared to go in their own interests.
How could they have known their ostensible redeemer was an honors graduate of the Socratic “promise everyone everything at election time” school of thought. At a mass gathering in then Victoria Park, two days after his party won the 1979 general elections, George Odlum addressed the Rastafarian community whose trusting members had put their lives and their freedom on the line to guarantee the election result.
Costumed in his customary U.S. Army fatigues and train driver’s cap, all in “the colors of the revolution,” he roared: “Brothers and sisters, the revolution is not over. Don’t expect us to legalize marijuana. We do not want your minds blown. We need you fit, with your minds intact, so that you can fight off the oppressors with every ounce of your energy.”
Who were the oppressors? Where exactly were they to be found? How would they be fought off? What form would “the revolution” take? If the betrayed section of the 5000-strong audience had any questions, they went unasked. Fast forward to times more recent. Finally the leader of the local cannabis movement Mr. Andre De Caires is in a position to deliver a miracle to his long frustrated flock. For some 30 years, almost singlehandedly, he had tried to convince succeeding administrations it made no sense that citizens were free to consume mass quantities of alcohol and cigarettes—both proven killers—while mere possession of a few sticks of marijuana could earn the carrier several months behind bars.
To be fair, by all he said during televised press conferences and at public rallies, De Caires was less interested in the highs from smoking weed than in the production of cannabis for personal and other purposes. Yes, so on June 28 he posts the following recorded message: “Good morning members of the Cannabis Movement. I have news that everybody has been waiting for. Minister Bradley Felix just called me. He said that at the Cabinet meeting yesterday it was agreed they want full legalization [of cannabis] for industrial, personal, sacramental and medicinal use. So that is done. They want to present a bill to parliament and ask for a vote of hands. They don’t believe the opposition will not vote for it. So when that happens within three months it will be fully legalized. Before Christmas, gentlemen and ladies, we will be a country where you can burn your weed and nobody’s gonna lock you up. So, victory. Today is Victory Day.”
Days later Felix appeared on TV to confirm much of what De Caires had said, albeit in words more somber. By official account the attorney general’s office is working at full throttle to put in place the laws that will make marijuana use legal in Saint Lucia. It remains conjectural whether the current opposition will address George Odlum’s 1979 volte face. In all events there is still the community of scientists that continues to underscore dire consequences from smoking marijuana, first expressed in 1971 by Julian Hunte, and by the leaders of the promise-breaking St. Lucia Labour Party of 1979.
