President of the Northern Caribbean University, Dr Herbert Thompson, yesterday used the National Prayer Breakfast to speak out against the “injustice” of jailing those caught with a spliff while major drug dons trade in the illegal contraband with impunity.

“A container of drugs has an owner, just as a spliff has an owner,” he said during the main address at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. “A number of our youngsters are in prison because they broke the law [for smoking ganja]… and they wonder if there could be some balance in terms of the way you deal with those who move it in large quantities – whether by truck or plane.”

Parliament is now considering the decriminalisation of the weed for personal use, but there have been concerns raised that this would be a violation of international treaties. Solicitor General Michael Hylton, who raised the issue of the island’s international obligations, is expected to supply further details to support his argument before Parliament next discusses the issue on January 21.

Yesterday, Thompson called on Prime Minister PJ Patterson, Opposition Leader Edward Seaga and other Government, business and religious leaders present at the annual breakfast to help rid the country of the “form of injustice” that penalises small-time drug users and not the major players.

“So we ask in the name of justice that our leaders would be sensitive enough to hear the cry of those calling out for justice and come to our rescue, because you are the ones that indeed we depend on,” he said. “Justice must be afforded to the rich and the poor… Justice and truth held in balance and operating in tandem will give us a much more humane society.”

Ignoring the dons that dispense their own brand of justice in communities that they rule is wrong, he argued, even if they sometimes help those in need. And he called on the nation’s leaders to stop hiding their heads in the sand.

“Many of us in this room may pretend that we do not know that there are some people in other places who are administering a kind of justice that the constitution is not privy to – be they dons, be they area leaders, be they community protectors. Part of the challenge we have is that some of them do good things for people in need,” he said. “But the justice which they extract and demand is one which is rough justice. Truth is therefore the only ground on which to stand.”

The National Prayer Breakfast started in 1981, a year after the bloodiest election in Jamaica’s history in which more than 800 persons were killed. The aim of the breakfast is to foster greater unity in the country arising out of the concern of the church for peace, justice, reconciliation and unity.

This year’s project is to create a place of safety in the corporate area for homeless, fire and flood victims. The event is sponsored by the Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS).