The Anguilla Youth Parliament is proposing to submit a Resolution to the House of Assembly to legalise marijuana, as a controlled substance, subject to reasonable regulations and appropriate usage. The Resolution was presented as part of the Fifth Annual Youth Week in Anguilla.
The Youth Parliament, comprising a number of trained young people in parliamentary procedures and debates, met on Friday, September 27, at the House of Assembly Chambers to discuss the Resolution. For about the first half of the meeting, it appeared that the young parliamentarians, would all fully support the Resolution but, as the debate progressed, a number of them differed, pointing to what they saw as negative effects of marijuana on health and community. In the end, however, the Resolution was passed having received majority support.
Earlier, the Speaker of the Youth Parliament, Nordisia Lake, addressed the attendees including Government officials, members of the public and fellow young colleagues: “I believe I can speak for all of my fellow parliamentarians when I say that it is with great excitement to be sitting in parliament ready to deliberate after having been sworn in many months ago,” she told them.
“We have spent the last several months being trained in our researching, debating and articulating skills, and I believe that many of you will leave here feeling very enamored by our enthusiasm and growth over the years. Taking on the task of being a youth parliamentarian is no easy feat for many of us, but we are sitting as members of this Honourable House committed to the development of youth and the development of our country. We have chosen this avenue as one of many to join with the youth of Anguilla in taking a seat at the table in Vision 2048 – changing the way of decision-making through dialogue, policy and action.”
The Resolution for the Legalising of Marijuana, which later followed, was moved by the Premier in the Youth Parliament – and the Representative for District 4 – Kyrleson Lewis-Klaren. It read as follows:
“WHEREAS, marijuana is less harmful than alcohol and tobacco, and
“WHEREAS, existing marijuana laws represent vast government over-reach into the personal lives of Anguilla’s citizens – and violate principles of personal liberty and choice, and
“WHEREAS, existing marijuana laws have not had a significant impact on marijuana availability, and
“WHEREAS hundreds of peaceful residents of Anguilla have been arrested, imprisoned, fined, or otherwise needlessly criminalised and stigmatised, potentially for life, because of their use of marijuana, and
“WHEREAS hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent nationally enforcing drug laws, including those pertaining to marijuana, and
“WHEREAS existing drug laws, including those criminalizing marijuana, have created an illegal market for drugs contributing to crime and violence-ridden neighbourhoods, and
“WHEREAS there is widespread and accurate belief that the War on Drugs throughout the world, including the war on marijuana, has been an abysmal failure, producing much more harm than good, and
“WHEREAS decriminalisation of marijuana is no solution because it fails to resolve the problems described above, and because it continues to maintain two fundamental and indefensible fictions, namely, that marijuana is more harmful than alcohol and tobacco and that marijuana users are more of a threat to society and themselves than those who use alcohol and tobacco, and
“WHEREAS legalising marijuana is an important social justice issue, and
“WHEREAS a genuinely peaceful approach to marijuana and other currently illegal drugs must be based on freedom, harm reduction, and, in the case of actual drug abuse, free and readily available voluntary treatment – and not criminalisation, criminal enforcement, or criminal punishment, and
“WHEREAS marijuana for use by adults should never have been criminalized and we should act now to correct this wrong and all the many wrongs which have followed from it, now, therefore be it
“RESOLVED that the Anguilla Youth Parliament supports the legalization of marijuana which should be regulated and taxed in a manner similar to alcohol and tobacco, and, be it further
“RESOLVED that the Anguilla Youth Parliament calls on the Government of Anguilla to legalise marijuana as a controlled substance, subject to reasonable regulations to effect its appropriate usage, and, be it further
“RESOLVED that the Anguilla Youth Parliament calls on police, prosecutors and judges to focus on real crime and, until marijuana is legalised in Anguilla, to use their discretion to stop arresting, prosecuting, and punishing non-violent marijuana users and minor drug sellers, and, be it further
“RESOLVED that the Anguilla Youth Parliament calls on the Minister of Youth Affairs to lay this resolution before the Anguilla House of Assembly for consideration.”
Following Lewis-Klaren’s presentation of the Resolution, and his own views, he concluded: “With time comes change and I hope Anguilla does not wait too long. I believe we must take immediate action. The world around us is changing and we must not be lackadaisical. I do understand that this is not a small change and there are many perspectives I look forward to hearing.
“With this in mind, I would like to release my Ministers to speak and vote their conscience.”
As stated above, while at first a number of them supported the legalisation of marijuana and pointed to its economic, medical and other benefits, others spoke about the drug’s damage to lives and the community – and the need for caution.
While the Anguilla Youth Parliament is to present its resolution to the House of Assembly for consideration, it is known that the Government of Anguilla appears to have shelved a draft Criminal Code by former Attorney General, Mr. John McKendrick, which called for the decriminalising of small amounts of marijuana.
