Rohee rules out legalizing marijuana

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:00 by GxMedia

Guyana’s Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee on Monday ruled out the decriminalization of marijuana any time soon and said he was not worried that his country and the Caribbean would be eventually isolated.

“I’m not worried about that because as Caricom (Caricom) we hold one position,” he told journalists at the release of the Ministry of Home Affairs 2012 National Drug Report

The Guyanese Home Affairs Minister stressed that government was bent on pursuing a zero tolerance position on the legalization of marijuana. “the position and the policy of the Government of Guyana is to pursue a zero tolerance policy in respect of the trafficking of narcotics, possession of narcotics and any other form of activity in respect of drugs that are deemed illegal according to the laws of our country and according to the treaties and conventions of an international nature that we have signed on to,” he said.

He made Guyana’s position known in the context of a number of Colorado legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational purposes.

Guyana-born United States-based security expert, Dr. Ivelaw Griffith during a recent visit here advocated the decriminalization of marijuana he has described as the least of the psychotropic substances.   The privately-owned Stabroek News newspaper has quoted Griffith as saying that selective legalisation of marijuana would help free up the clogged criminal justice system where there are hundreds of persons who have been convicted and accused of that drug-possession.

While Colorado has legalised possession and use of marijuana for recreational purposes, Rohee noted that the United States as a country was still a signatory to international anti-narcotics conventions. Recent efforts by Uruguay to legalise the narcotic have seen that South American country running into problems with a number of international organisations.