Guernsey would benefit from legalising and regulating cannabis

Firstly, let me nail my colours firmly to the mast; I am a full supporter of the legalisation and regulation of cannabis in all its forms for consumption by those who choose to do so. Furthermore, in order to democratise the issue, I believe people should be able to grow their own ‘supply’, just as we are allowed to brew our own beer, wine or cider under current law.

So, on to my point; a gentleman has been arrested and sentenced for the importation of a large quantity of cannabis resin, yes he has broken the law, I fully accept that. The question is, will this stop or dissuade any further attempts to import cannabis into Guernsey? Of course the answer is a resounding no. In fact I would be very much surprised if plans were not already afoot for other such ventures.

Why? Well, simply put, there is a thriving market for cannabis in Guernsey despite the best efforts of our law enforcement agencies over the decades to stop importation and to punish users. A market that at the moment isn’t regulated, has no quality control, is driven by profit and profit only and shows no signs of disappearing. A ‘dealer’ doesn’t ask for proof of age or is concerned with the quality of their product. Their concern is to get the product onto the island and offload it as quickly as possible to maximise profit and minimise risk.

The gentlemen in question has been sentenced to seven years in prison. At a cost of £50,000 per annum to the taxpayer, that equates to £350,000. This is not including any medical or dental treatment that he may require during his stay here or indeed any training he elects to receive to rehabilitate himself upon his release. Incidentally, this is but one case; currently, 37% of inmates incarcerated at Guernsey Prison are there for drug offences. An extraordinarily high figure.

To put this £350,000 into context, remember that the reciprocal health agreement with the UK was shelved because £500,000 was deemed not to be value for money, we also now send all our polystyrene to landfill because £400,000 is also deemed too high a cost. It is also 9.5 times the deputies’ basic salary, not including expenses. I’ll leave it up to the reader to make a value judgement of that last figure. In addition to this figure we will never know the costs incurred by the GBA, law officers, advocates and courts. Of course the gentleman probably may not end up serving the full seven years, which in itself makes a mockery of the sentence handed down.

We need to wake up to the fact that cannabis is widely accepted as less harmful than alcohol and significantly less harmful than tobacco, both of which are freely available here and from which the States of Guernsey earn a considerable amount through revenue. The consequences of excessive alcohol consumption are only too relevant in the pages of the Press from almost daily court reports of alcohol-induced violence, drink-driving and the like. Cannabis is widely in use, whether recreationally or self-medicated medicinal use, by people of all walks of life on this island, who all contribute to our island life in one way or another. Because the consequences of speaking up about this issue are so severe the subject is rarely breached. The rest of the world is coming around to the idea that efforts to stop the consumption of cannabis were doomed from the offset. It is now time that we had the same discussion.

Perhaps, with the upcoming elections, no doubt some deputies may see this as a way to garner votes, but soapbox talk must be followed through with meaningful and open debate.

We legislate for the use of alcohol and we should do the same for cannabis. A portion of the taxation raised on the sales of cannabis could be used to fund health awareness over the subject.

One more point I wish to make is in regard to the way that this, and other, drug-related arrests are portrayed by the law enforcement agencies and indeed by your newspaper. Those familiar with the basic tenets of policing will have heard of the Peelian principles. These were laid out by Robert Peel, the founder of the modern police force as we know it, in 1891 and they are still in use today. The ninth principle is: ‘The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.’ The need for law enforcement to parade such evidence smacks of a pat on the back and a ‘didn’t we do well’ attitude. It seems that from your report, this was a chance discovery and not one led by intelligence. It does nothing to dissuade further behaviour of this sort.

Finally, much has been made about the impending availability of cannabinoid-based medicines on the island. I see from comments on social media that we should expect a report from HSC on this matter this month, July 2019. Let us hope that patients who have a clinical need for such medicines have them met and are not destined to continue to be forced to break the law to obtain the relief they need. It will also be of interest to see if any such medicines are available on the ‘white list’, or will it be a case that ‘yes, there is a clinical need for these medicines, but only for those who can afford it’?

NAME AND ADDRESS WITHHELD.