Keith Gardner is assistant commissioner of police.
THE DECRIMINALISATION or legalisation of ganja is a matter of Government policy. Government policy is defined as what Government chooses to do or chooses not to do. It is a process that is defined by interest articulation and interest aggregation. Some of this interest is local, some is national and some international.
Now, what we are seeing here is perhaps a significant number of opinions that seem to be saying to Government that we need to revisit the whole question of the legalisation of ganja but there are pros and there are cons in legalising the drug and there are constitutional considerations. This issue has been raised time and time again.
The Dennis Forsythe issue came up a while ago and he tried to turn around the whole thing by saying ganja is used by some Rastafarians as a sacrament in their religious worship. And that because religious worship was guaranteed as religious freedom, freedom of conscience, that it was guaranteed under the Constitution, then they should be so allowed (to use it).
But there are also other consequences. There is also the question as to whether the use of ganja is a stepping stone to the use of other serious drugs. I am not here to say whether or not this is so. We, as policemen, are not here to declare the law, we are here to enforce the law. As soon as the Government is influenced to amend the law, then we will go with it.
