Guernsey Press

Committees wrong on cannabis amnesty

WE write to you in response to the joint statement [from Home Affairs and Health & Social Care] appearing in the Guernsey Press on 11 February 2021. Firstly we are grateful that the relevant committees have outlined that they do not support our proposals for [a cannabis] amnesty, to you at least. I can clarify that only a handful of deputies actually responded, which was disappointing given that so many were supportive prior to their election.

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The committees’ statement is quoted as, ‘An Amnesty allows individuals to hand to the police illegal items, which do harm, without fear of prosecution. They do not allow individuals to keep and use illegal items that do harm.’

We have called for evidence of the ‘harm’ use of cannabis causes, as many are now questioning the validity of these claims. Where is this evidence that the States are holding onto, in silence?

Access to public information requests have received poor responses to such simple questions. Where is the evidence that cannabis causes harm to the person? What evidence was presented that supported the change from class A to class B?

At remarkable speed and just before the election in October 2020, a framework was put in place to allow those who had sufficient medical history and funds to access cannabis by prescription. To date less than 150 licences have been processed. There is no financial support available to those who cannot afford these prescriptions and to date no framework to help with their conditions.

The Guernsey Drug Strategy Campaign enlisted assistance from members of the community with expertise in their fields and formed a ‘think tank’ to assist in resolving the issues, in full recognition of the likelihood that Home and Health would not meet the requirements of the sursis motive, laid so ably by [former deputy] Emilie McSwiggan. We understand that Covid has taken over again, but we ask you how reasonable it is for our elected officials to continue to delay, offer no actual solution to the problem and just keep on seeking our acceptance and understanding. For some groups looking to secure rights and freedoms for those with different abilities, the wait has been even longer. This is, frankly, evidence that we don’t have the balance right and not the benchmark, surely?

In an effort to assist overworked departments, we drafted a framework as a stop gap, to fill the void between identifying that substance use is a health issue and the period that has followed. It has been publicly noted as a health matter since 2017 when it was passed to the Committee for Health and Social Care, but no doubt it was being considered long before this. The result was the Professor Sumnall report, suggesting at least four ways that would potentially apply to Guernsey’s unique issues. Our proposal for amnesty was to incorporate his findings as a test bed to inform future policy. He recommends evidence is gathered to inform policies globally. What is now too complex or difficult to incorporate? The joint statement is silent on how the committees suggest we move forward, or when we can expect the results to be presented to the Assembly and does little to consider the proposal, or even enter into discussion as to how we may assist our elected officials in resolving the ongoing harms.

The committees consider how amnesty has been used locally before, but not how it could be used.

The example of Carly’s Amnesty in the UK was an informative backdrop to our proposals of ceasing the ongoing harm and an outstanding example of recognising the evidence in hand, if not yet fully developed due to delays, and achieving a working solution between the community, the police authority and the health authority. Let’s not forget, these are services to the public, so they should be working with the public to resolve these matters, not ignoring what is not convenient right now. Tell us what is wrong with the proposal, and what you need, and we will rework it.

The police in Guernsey have discretionary powers, as do the law officers when considering if prosecution is in the public interest. Tom Lloyd outlines that the chief officer has the ability to use his discretion here, as those in Durham and other UK and Welsh forces have in light of evidence in hand. As these powers are not being exercised with any formality, we have to ask why the lack of transparency?

We seek to address this with a framework of understanding that supports community, supports the health and police services and protects our children from the unintended harms that treating those using substances as criminals causes.

‘The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’

It is not acceptable to continue with the status quo because the committees have simply not had time to complete the work, whilst community wait to be treated as the patients the committees know they are – it is considerably worse to continue to waste public funds incarcerating people and causing untold damage to families and the most vulnerable members of this community. The Justice Review informs us that users of cannabis in the community are numbered at approximately 11%, so not insignificant. It’s not just a few, it is everyone that has faced a custodial sentence since 2017, when both committees agreed and declared it was a health matter.

GUERNSEY DRUGS STRATEGY COMMITTEE