Opposition Leader ‘in favour of the legalisation of marijuana’

Opposition Leader Godwin Friday says he supports the legalisation of marijuana in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Speaking at the opening of the New Democratic Party’s North Leeward constituency office in Chateaubelair on Friday noted that Kishore Shallow, the party’s candidate for the constituency, had outlined a vision of having a cannabis village.

“I am not afraid to say that I’m in favour of the legalisation of marijuana in this country and to have that as an industry. That can be done to create wealth and opportunity for our people,” the opposition leader said at the event on Friday.

“This is what the CARICOM commission had recommended. And so, we are working along with that to see to what extent we can get it done now, and how we can do with it in the future. There is a lot of potential there.”

He said an NDP administration will create an environment in the north of St. Vincent “where you have better communication through a ferry service from this side of the country to Owia, on the other side.

“But not that alone. We want to have a connection between the north and Saint Lucia as well and create the potential for economic synergies that we have not been able to imagine yet.”

He noted that when he went to Grammar School from Bequia, he travelled on Friendship Rose — a wooden schooner.

“You could never have imagined that you’d have a ferry service running between Bequia and Kingstown, where you have a boat almost every hour,” the opposition leader said.

He said that with this ferry service, there is the movement of people and goods.

“…  now you have people going down to Bequia not just to do business but to go to the beach, to have a nice time on the weekend, where you have the cruise ships coming in and full boatload of people going down. All of that is new. You could not have conceived of it,” Friday said.

“So let us not limit our imagination when we talk about developing the north to thinking what exists now. Think about what is possible, and that is what I want to unleash in this part of the country,” the opposition leader said, adding that the NDP has a team that can do so.

“You have Dr shallow as somebody who has proven a person of great ability, somebody of talent, and also the desire to do good in the region and here in his community.”

Speaking at the same event, East Kingstown MP, Fitz Bramble, said that marijuana “used to carry” the Vincentian economy.

“When school going open and you see all the ganja farmers come to town, even town people used to benefit because when you go in town to buy your school books, you see a brethren from Chateau. You say, ‘Boy, ah broken me. Help me with something.’”

Bramble said Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves destroyed the small marijuana farmers in North Leeward.

“… and now he’s giving all of the perks and all of the economic opportunities to these people they’re talking about medical marijuana.

“…This is what he said, I will pursue those vagabonds until they exist no more. And they coming and asking you for 30 years,” Bramble further stated, referring to the fact that the Unity Labour Party, which has been in office for five five-year terms, is asking for another term in office.

“All the small farmers in this community who carry this community, who carry this country, now money dey fuh mek in marijuana, you take away the opportunity from them. No way should they get 30 years,” said Bramble, who will seek a second five-year term in office.

Meanwhile, Roland “Patel” Matthews, who was MP for North Leeward from 2010 to 2020, also blamed Gonsalves and the ULP for “the destruction of the marijuana industry in North Leeward”.

The Gonsalves government has decriminalised possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana in certain circumstances.

The Gonsalves government, however, is opposed to legalising the plant, saying that international conventions prevent the government from doing so.

Matthews noted that in 2016, the NDP, under Friday’s leadership, held a marijuana consultation at the Fitz Hughes Primary School.

“At that meeting, we said that when the New Democratic Party gets in office, we are going to do something to legalise marijuana cultivation,” Matthews said.

He said the NDP had seen the changes that were taking place globally as regards attitudes towards marijuana.

“So, the New Democratic Party … said they were going to take it up because we realised that North Leeward, especially, had an economy that depend greatly on marijuana cultivation,” Matthews said, adding that everyone at Friday’s event could attest to that.

“We in this constituency benefited tremendously, hundreds of thousands of dollars from marijuana cultivation.”

He noted that in 2016, Linton Lewis, then an NDP senator, asked Gonsalves in Parliament whether his government would consider legalising marijuana.

“Nah! Never! that was the PM’s response…” Matthews said, adding that two years later, when Gonsalves realised that the NDP had momentum on the issue, he took a bill to Parliament to decriminalise possession of small quantities of the plant.

“… we supported the bill. How can you expect a person like Patel Matthews, born and bred in North Leeward, from Peto not to support that? I support the bill,” Matthews said.

Matthew noted that he spoke in Parliament about his experience planting marijuana, noting that he had been in the mountains planting marijuana when he was called to become a teacher.

“When Patel talk, me nah talk from hearsay. I talk from a practical experience; I know what I was talking about,” Matthew said.

He said he told the government that if the medicinal marijuana industry was to succeed, every traditional ganja farmer must get a licence.

“Because, if you don’t do that, the big boys are going to benefit and the small man is going to get nothing… So say, so done. Right now, the North Leeward economy is flat on its face because only the big boys benefit,” Matthews said.

He said he attended a reggae concert recently in Victoria Park and marijuana was being sold from a tent during the very week when two young men from Petit Bordel were charged for marijuana possession.

“No love for the small man. No respect for the ganja farmers.  …  Today, ganja farming is in shambles in North Leeward. Ralph Gonsalves had his way and that is another reason why we in this constituency must never vote back the ULP in office because we have suffered first-hand at their hand,” Matthew said.

Meanwhile, Friday asked constituents to vote for Shallow, saying he was confident that the candidate would not let them down.

“… and we will see the transformation of the communities here in the northern part of the country.”

He said the NDP should be elected because it has the better team.

“There’s no doubt about that. And two, we have the better plan. There’s no doubt about that. They don’t even have a plan. They just do one thing, one thing, one thing, here and there; we have the better plan,” Friday said.

“And three, we have the better leader, who is going to have a vision that will transform this country.”

He said the team that the NDP has put together will not only win the election but also “will be able to run the ministries from the day we win government.

“And life will begin to get better for the people throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines. So, my dear people, let’s do this thing. Let’s win it,” Friday said.