“Weed makes me fly wid out visa”, are words from a popular song by the renowned dance hall artist Adijah Palmer. This is typical of the messages that are conveyed through the lyrics of many popular Jamaican songs today, but is this the most rewarding use of marijuana? Would the development of a medical marijuana industry prove more beneficial to Jamaica? Would the decriminalization of marijuana in order for such an industry to be enacted be economically viable?
Other questions to ask ourselves are, what is Decriminalization and how would decriminalization of marijuana help with enacting a medical marijuana industry? According to the Merriam-Webster decriminalization means “to remove or reduce the criminal classification or status of; especially: to repeal a strict ban on while keeping under some form of regulation”. Marijuana currently is a banned drug in Jamaica and for Jamaica to develop a medical marijuana industry which would therefore means large scale production of the drug for scientific research and medicine production. The drug would have to be legalized on a certain level to facilitate such. Note in the above definition for decriminalization it made mention of the drug being kept under some form of regulation which for this research basically means certain punitive usage of the drug would still be rendered as illegal. The scope of this research paper will cover areas such as, the economic state of the country and its ability to facilitate and withstand such an industry, the illicit use of the drug, implementations of stringent control measures and use of the substance, inabilities to export due to certain treaty and acts and the negative effects of the recreational use of the drug.
With the poor state of the Jamaican economy and the heavy debt burden it faces, finding capital to facilitate the research, regulation and operation for a medical marijuana industry may not be practical. Global Exchange in a report records Jamaica as having a ratio debt to GDP of 150% (Global Exchange, 2010). This highlights the disadvantageous position of the country’s economy and therefore, it would not be wise to invest capital to start a medical marijuana industry. For such an industry, there would be added infrastructural, research and regulation costs imposed on the government. With research still being conducted into the therapeutic value of marijuana, a substantial percentage of the country’s budget would have to be allocated to local research into the field. The National Commission on Ganja (2001) as sited in Morrison & Lowe (2001), from their research even recommended that a national marijuana research facility be established to facilitate the continued research into the field (p.5).
In addition, marijuana use in Jamaica is widespread and common and it would be a fallacy to believe that if marijuana is decriminalized to facilitate a medical marijuana industry that there would somehow be a reduction in the illicit use of the substance. In 2011, Jamaica spent four hundred (400) million United States dollars in fighting the illicit trade of ganja (Cadet, 2011). At present, 7.5% of Jamaica’s revenue is being spent on clamping down on illicit trade activity (Picking, 2011). If a medicinal marijuana industry were established, there would be a gradual increase in this expenditure as more money would be required to be spent on regulating the illicit use of the substance rather than its medical uses. The percentage will increase so as to establish policies, regulations, and outline clear-cut systems to legitimize growers and suppliers in the medical Marijuana industry.
In institutionalizing the medicinal marijuana industry, the narcotics division will now be burdened with the task of implementing stringent control measures of the substance and its use by physicians and the population at large. However, history has dictated that it is not an easy task to track down and control marijuana growers. Jamaica is a signatory to the Single Narcotics Convention, the Convention of Psychotropic Substances, and the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (Campbell, 2013). What this means is that Jamaica would be breaching its treaty obligations if the government should legalize the substance for medicinal use. Jamaica risks the imposition of international sanctions if these obligations are breached. This limits the prospects of the country advancing on an international scale as the possibility of weakened diplomatic relations with Jamaica’s main trade partners, CARICOM and the United States exists. Moreover, additional control measures will need to be put in place as there exists a likelihood of abuse of the system to the benefit of the illegal trade. Chevannes (2001) argued that it was clear that ganja could not be supressed through the force of the law due to the influence of Rastafarian practices (p.33). In addition, control of the crop will become even more difficult as marijuana lends easily itself to small-scale home cultivation and production. The government would then be faced with the problem of stemming the cultivation of home-grown marijuana and devising how it is to be treated in the legal market.
Marijuana has been proven to have many medicinal benefits, ranging from the treatment of glaucoma, insomnia, psychological disorders, multiple sclerosis, to name a few, nonetheless the local demand for such substance would not be adequate to support the industry as these benefits have not been accepted well enough on a national level (Morrison & Lowe, 2001). As such consumers may be sceptical about purchasing medical marijuana products. To fuel the large scale scepticism would be competition from other well established drugs which unlike any medical marijuana product has been sanctioned by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There will therefore be an imbalance between supply and demand of the product limiting the revenue that should come from the industry. The prospect of the industry gaining from exports through an international market is also restricted as again the international drug treaties signed by Jamaica and its prospective medical marijuana trade partners would inhibit any such progress.
Notwithstanding the opinions of others that medical marijuana in Jamaica may contribute positively to the country’s economy, stating that a medical marijuana industry may, create jobs and earn the country millions from neutraceutical and pharmaceutical marijuana products being developed across the world (Nedelmann, 2013). The evidence put forward however, suggests that with the financial constraints currently faced by the country, the various regulatory and control measures that will have to be established and the perceived limited local demand of the product, one can confidently say that the establishment of a medical marijuana industry in Jamaica at this time will not be economically viable.
Legalization will cause a tremendous increase in marijuana use. Based on the experience elsewhere, the number of users will double or triple. Legalization will mean that marijuana businesses can promote their products and package them in attractive ways to increase their market share.
Increased marijuana use will mean a lot more damaged young people. Marijuana use can permanently impair brain development. Problem solving, concentration, motivation, and memory are negatively affected. Teens that use marijuana is more likely to engage in delinquent and dangerous behaviour and experience increased risk of schizophrenia and depression, including being three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts. Marijuana-using teens are more likely to have multiple sexual partners and engage in unsafe sex.
Marijuana use accounts for tens of thousands of marijuana related complaints at emergency rooms throughout the Jamaica each year. Despite arguments by the drug culture to the contrary, marijuana is addictive. The levels of THC (marijuana's psychoactive ingredient) have never been higher. This is a major factor why marijuana is the number one drug causing young people to enter treatment and why there has been a substantial increase in the people in treatment for marijuana dependence.
The argument that we can tax and regulate marijuana and derive income from it is false. The increased use will increase the multitude of costs that come with marijuana use. The costs from health and mental wellness problems, accidents, and damage to our economic productivity will far out strip any tax obtained. Our economy is suffering. The last thing we need is the burden that legalization will put on us.
So in concluding base on all the elements presented above, the facts, the results, the findings, it is safe to say that yes indeed the decriminalization of marijuana for a medical marijuana industry can impose tremendous amount of benefits to Jamaica but due to the island current economic state and debt to GDP ratio in tandem with the amount of money it would cost the country for example to control the ripple effects of such venture, like the illegal use of the drug would be deemed economically unviable if decriminalization should take place for such an industry to be enacted along with many other reasons which were already stated above.

Reference

Cadet, A. (2011, December). Is The Potential Decriminalization of Marijuana in Jamaica Justified? Retrieved July 2, 2015 from http://www.gov.gd/egov/pdf/ncodc/docs/IS_POTENTIAL_DECRIMINILIZATION_MARIJUANA_JAMAICA_JUSTIFIED_2011.pdf
Campbell, D. (2013, September). Legalising Marijuana Would Be Wrong. Retrieved July 24, 2015 from http://www.jamaica.com/columns/Legalising-marijuana-would-be-wrong_15118209
Chevannes, B. (2001, September). Crime and Drug Related Issues in Jamaica. Retrieved July 24, 2015 from http://www.colombia.edu/cu/ccbh/souls/vol3num4art4.pdf
Global Exchange, (2010, January). Global Exchange. Retrieved July 25, 2015 from http:www.globalexchange.org/country/Jamaica/economy
Nedelmann, E. (2013, August). Jamaican Government Urged to Legalise Marijuana to Improve Economy. Retrieved July 26, 2015 from http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/jamaica_news/949576.html#axzz2izlqklCn
Lowe, E. & Morrison, H. (2001). Ganja: The Jamaican Connection. Kingston, Jamaica: Pelican Publishers.
Picking, D. (2011). The Prevalance of Herbal Medicine, Home Use and Concomitant Use with Pharmaceutical Medicines in Jamaica. Journal of Ethnopharmocology. 306.