From: [c--o--n] at [dsmnet.com] (Carl E. Olsen)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,alt.drugs.pot,rec.drugs.cannabis,alt.hemp
Subject: Legalizing ganja
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 15:39:07

By Morris Cargill
     A GLEANER editorial of April 19th made a very tentative suggestion that 
it might not be a bad idea to legalize ganja, but pointed out the difficulty 
of doing so, so long as the USA objected.
     And there you have the real problem.  During the '60s I wrote and 
broadcast a number of times about the wisdom of legalizing ganja in Jamaica, 
and at that time there was quite a sympathetic body of opinion in the USA that 
it should be legalized there too.  Unfortunately for both countries, the 
forces of prohibition prevailed, with the dreadful results we know so well.
     Had Jamaica legalized ganja in the '60s before the pressures of 
prohibition had fully built in the USA, the whole situation might have been 
quite different.
     With ganja against the law in Jamaica it was not possible to resist 
American pressure.  Had it been legal here it would have been difficult for 
the USA to take steps in Jamaica for its elimination.  Of course the USA would 
have persisted in sanctions against smuggling ganja into the USA.  But had 
American smugglers been able, according to our laws, to come freely to Jamaica 
and load up their ships and aircraft, it would have been Americans taking the 
risks of being caught.  Our people would have had no problems as suppliers.
     There would have been no need for Jamaicans to form gangs or "posses" for 
trading in the weed.  Gangs in the USA may well have to come about, as they 
did when alcohol was prohibited, but that would have been their pigeon and not 
ours, and the reputation of Jamaicans in the USA would not have suffered.
     A parallel can he drawn here with the Bahamas during alcohol prohibition. 
 Alcoholic drinks being perfectly legal there, the Bahamas became enormous 
traders in whisky and so on, and boats, chiefly American, would run stuff into 
the USA.
     It is also true to say that prohibition was the start of Bahamian tourism 
when Americans flocked there for a few days of legal drinking.  Our tourist 
trade could have been given a similar boost later by American flocking to 
Jamaica for a few days of the legal enjoyment of pot.  As it now stands we 
risk not only having fines on ships and aircraft but the risk of losing a lot 
of our illicit trade in ganja to the enormous growth in American production of 
high grade ganja.
     This encourages Jamaican gangs to deal in hard drugs.
     Well, with the stick of the USA threatening us, it is too late now for us 
to legalize ganja.  More's the pity.  We have learned too late of the 
consequences of being bullied by a large country.  To some extent though, it 
has been our own fault. 

* * * * * 
     The Jamaica Sunday Gleaner, Late May, 1995, page 9A 



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