The Tribune

THE Christian Council is starting to outline its position in the debate on the legalisation of marijuana – and while their report won’t be made public until next month, the head of the committee preparing that report hinted yesterday at opposition to making the drug legal.

It is early in the debate of course and the point of having a debate is to hear different viewpoints, but it does feel as if Pastor Dave Burrows’ comments weigh heavily on the negative side of the consequences without considering the positive.

Let us be clear, there can of course be negative consequences. People with a marijuana habit can find their lives affected in negative ways the same as someone with a drinking habit.

But it’s worth asking whether those consequences mean that people – often young men – find themselves locked away in prison for small amounts of the drug or with a criminal record following them around forever, making it hard for them to find work and trapping them in a life of poverty or pushing them further toward more serious crime.

Pastor Burrows also dismisses the view of many people who want medical marijuana, saying “their motive is not medicine” and dismissing a friend of his in California who has a prescription, saying “we all know he doesn’t have any medical condition”.

There has been study of medical marijuana around the world – and many users say they find it of great benefit. In the US, the Federal Drug Agency has approved it for use in dealing with two forms of epilepsy – albeit rare forms. However, many users have said it helps them, especially in dealing with chronic pain, Alzheimer’s, and more. That’s not to say it doesn’t have risks. It is a drug, and many drugs have their problems – just listen to all those rattled off lists of dangers of medication on US television adverts. As for whether people’s motive is medicine, well, that’s between them and their doctor.

But if things stay the same, what will the Christian Council’s report say should be done with those sitting in prison or who get hauled before the courts for a small amount of the drug?

What are the social consequences of continuing to criminalise a section of our community in this way? Are we doing the right thing if we say well, if those young men do break the law, they must face the consequences?

Pastor Burrows also opposes granting Rastafarians the right to use cannabis as a sacrament, saying “it is kinda hard to create a separate category of citizens”. It’s actually rather straightforward, as tax exemptions for churches show, or allowing churches to provide communion wine to those under 18.

If this is where the Christian Council report is at, it feels like it’s falling a little short right now. The final report may have more, but we’d like to see more consideration of the other side of the equation – the cost to society. Because right now it’s costing young men dearly.

Above the law?

“No one is above the law whether you are in uniform or whether you are in public life. Nobody is above the law and where it is found out at the end of the day that persons whether they are law enforcement officers or public officials are in breach of the law, they will be treated like anyone else and I can assure you of that.”

The above words are not ours; they came from National Security Marvin Dames. They are on our mind today as we report a police officer being caught on camera out of uniform, walking around with a gun in his hand and yelling at bystanders in Abaco. “Y’all think this Abaco police, eh?” he shouts. “Record, bro, record. This (expletive) Nassau police bey. Don’t play with me bey.”

One of the bystanders says the officer fired his gun twice. According to the police complaints unit, the incident is being investigated. No arrest has been reported.

We wonder about other cases of police exceeding their authority that The Tribune has reported. We wonder about the officer who unlawfully killed Osworth Rolle more than three years ago yet has not faced any prosecution. We wonder about the officers said to have tortured three people in Eleuthera in 2018 only to be told time had run out on their complaint a year later. We wonder what happened to the officers shown in another video, clubbing civilians with nightsticks during Junkanoo. Or the officer slamming a teenager to the ground at Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium. Or the officers alleged to have assaulted two young women in Exuma in August. Or the officer seen in a video last April slapping a man on a beach. Or the probe into a man being taken to an ambulance from the Central Detective Unit in March last year. We could go on.

In January, we called for an accounting for those investigations. That has not come. Will we be writing again about this in future with still no accounting? Will this latest officer’s actions be accounted for? Or will he be one more on the list that we keep returning to?

Public safety is at risk from officers behaving badly. Allowing such actions to continue without being checked makes one wonder how much our leaders care about our safety.