BURKEEarl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer
PROMINENT POLITICAL activist Paul Burke yesterday called on Parliament to apologise to the society for what he describes as the abuses perpetrated against various individuals and groups over the years because of their possession of or use of ganja.
Addressing the Joint Select Committee of Parliament considering the Ganja Commission's report, Mr. Burke declared: "This House of Parliament owes every single young man who has to spend a day locked up in dirty, filthy cells; for every Jamaican who has been framed; for every Jamaican who has been beaten over the decades they owe the society an apology."
Mr. Burke highlighted in particular adherents of the Rastafarian religious group who he said had been persecuted over the years 'for what they regard as a sacred right - smoking the herb.'
Accordingly, he called for possession of ganja to be immediately decriminalised, with full legalisation to followwithin five years. Accom-panying that measure, he said there should be a major public education campaign on the dangers of smoking.
LICENSING OF GANJA VENDORS
A member of the National Alliance for Legalisation of Ganja, Mr. Burke told the Joint Select Committee yesterday that the time had also come to recognise the economic and social benefits of the ganja plant. Among other measures he is calling for the licensing of ganja vendors to possess a maximum of 50 pounds of the plant at any one time. Farmers should also be licensed to grow the plant, he said, in addition to which a Ganja Industry Board should be established to regulate and plan the development of the industry.
Making clear his recognition of the international prohibition against the trade in ganja, Mr. Burke recommended that penalties for trafficking and exportation be increased 'so as to strongly deter this from increasing with the decriminalisation of ganja.'
Louis Moyston, another member of the National Alliance for Legalisation of Ganja, called for the abolition of the Ganja Law of 1913.
This law he said was enacted at the time, in keeping with the Colonial Authority's 'need to control' the Black majority.
Mr. Moyston claimed however that the stringency of the law was increased even further during the first decade of Independence. Describing the 1960s as 'a real turning point in the Ganja Laws', he declared that it was during this decade that new amendments were linked to radical activities of the Rastafari movement.
BENEFITS OF THE HERB
The husband and wife team of Reverend Leeroy Campbell and Arlene Campbell also addressed the Committee on behalf of the Republican Party of Jamaica. Reverend Campbell, who claims more than 20 years of research into the effects of ganja 'on the mind, body and spirit', spent the time allocated to him promoting these benefits. Among these he highlighted 'the removal of toxins from the body and nutritional healing of the body, mind and immune system', as well as use in weight loss, blood pressure control and slowing down of the ageing process.
Mrs. Campbell highlighted the possible industrial applications of Ganja in hair and body products, creams, oils, lotions, shampoos, jells and insect repellents. She claimed as well that ganja could be used as a varied food source and as an alternative energy source to natural gas.
