The seizure of cannabis-laced gummies by police and customs officials after two children ended up in hospital when they ate them has sparked a warning by a top Cayman lawyer.
Richard Barton, a barrister and president of the Cayman Islands Legal Practitioners Association, said it was crucial to protect children.
But the father-of-two also insisted that rules on products such as ganja gummies for adults needed change – including the adoption of innovations such as amnesty bins at points of entry.
“What is happening when someone comes here with no criminal record whatsoever and, for one gummy or two gummies, they are separated from their families, remanded and have to go to court,” he said.
“I am not suggesting for a moment even being sympathetic to the people who are importing cannabis, but we have a duty to exercise balance.
“And we have to be careful that we are not punishing people for medicinal use.”
Barton added it was important “to show we are taking the gummies issue seriously.
“A balance needs to be struck to protect young children, and people who bring gummies into the country for personal use – there has to be some rationality in the administration of justice.”
Barton said it was bad to criminalise cannabis-infused gummies when they were legal in much of the United States – especially in markets such as New York, which are targeted for attracting increased visitor numbers to Cayman.
He highlighted the successful private member’s motion brought to Parliament by opposition MP Chris Saunders and backed by United People’s Movement MP McKeeva Bush.
The motion, which was accepted by the government, called for amending criminal records legislation to expunge convictions recorded against people for possession of an ounce or less of cannabis for personal use.
In her response during a debate on that motion, Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly said this issue would addressed in the upcoming referendum on decriminalising ganja, expected to be held in April.
Barton noted that Cayman was “on the verge of a referendum, which, to all intents and purposes, could legalise cannabis – we will know in a few months.”
Amnesty bins
Saying he has been “very vocal about this”, he added, “We have the opportunity to put amnesty bins in the precincts of the airport, like many places in the world”, for visitors to discard items on entry.
“We are not talking about 2 pounds or 200 pounds of ganja for supply,” he added.
Barton also noted that, on prescription from a doctor, cannabis was legal in Cayman already.
Medicinal cannabis in the form of oils and tinctures has been a legally prescribed drug in Cayman since amendments were made to the Misuse of Drugs Act in 2016.
Barton said there were inconsistencies in the classifications of different types of cannabis and its products.
“I want to make it very clear I am a supporter of justice and that one gummy not legally brought into the country is one too many, but it’s not good enough when people walk through customs and volunteer gummies or a vape and end up in court.”
US actress Rachel Sennott, who appeared in the HBO series ‘The Idol’, told Jimmy Fallon on ‘The Tonight Show’ about two weeks ago that she had been arrested on arrival in Cayman for possession of a cannabis product called ‘Mom Grass’.
The product contains cannabigerol (CBC) rather than cannabidiol (CBD) and is made to look like weed. CBC is not psychoactive and does not produce a ‘high’ like THC.
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Question, where will persons obtain the ganja that will be decriminalized? From a doctor or a pharmacy? Will insurance companies cover the costs? Make it make sense please.