ST THOMAS, United States Virgin Islands (CMC) — A United States Virgin Islands (USVI) legislator has told Caribbean tourism officials that it is time for them “to adapt and adopt” marijuana as a Caribbean commodity, saying it has the potential to become a panacea to the region’s economic problems.

“We have so far succeeded in getting it on the ballot for the senate committee to approve the motion to place the decriminalisation of marijuana on the ballot,” said Senator Terrence Nelson, an economist, who has been seeking to have marijuana decriminalised in USVI.

The matter will be debated in November in the Senate.

“If successful we would decriminalise up to an ounce of marijuana. This means for that amount it will not be a criminal offence, but one punishable by a fine. One would still pay a fine of US$100 for having marijuana out in public.

“A US$100 fine and US$200 for a repeat offence. If the quantities increase beyond an ounce, then you would fall back into a criminal violation,” he said.

Nelson was responding to the executive director of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), Dr James Hospedales, who urged regional countries attending the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s State of the Industry conference here to proceed with “caution” as they contemplate the decriminalisation of marijuana.

In his contribution to a panel discussion on the notion or reality of marijuana tourism, Dr Hospedales said his advise could be summarised in one sentence:  “Proceed with an abundance of caution, given the significant adverse effects of cannabis smoking on health and social and occupational functioning, and especially so among youth”.

But the USVI Legislator took strong objection to the statement by Dr Hospedales and suggested that there had been research to the contrary for several hundred years, but because of its illegality the reports have not been published.

“Now that marijuana is becoming legal in certain jurisdictions we are seeing more of these reports emerging,” he said, adding “they are supporting the fact that there is room for a marijuana industry, whether it be medical, recreational or industrial hemp”.

Nelson told the delegates that while he was not a medical professional, people use the research that supports their position. But he stressed that there was adequate research available to counter the CARPHA’s claims.

“There are those who fall by the way side through the abuse of marijuana, but there also many more successful people who use the drug but whom you will never see because they don’t use it on the streets.

“If you were to take the whole population of cannabis users and the individuals who you see as vagrants, you will see it’s a very small percentage who use the drug on the streets, and it’s not just marijuana they put into their bodies put other substances,” he argued.

The St Kitts born economist said he was against young people being sent to prison for marijuana use, noting that this alters their career path because of an infraction.

“In most cases they are thrown to the curb and deprived of access to grants for college or obtaining Federal Housing assistance, we do not believe this warrants such consequences.

“We can capitalise on the establishment of a marijuana industry here, but we don’t want our youth smoking. We hope like other states supporting decriminalisation to use revenue to create programmes to capture youth interest so that they don’t become juvenile delinquents,” Nelson said.

He called on the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) to take the issue more seriously as there were tangible benefits to be made through the production and eventual support of cannabis, adding that visitors were now gravitating to jurisdictions where the drug had been decriminalised.

He said the CTO would have an opportunity to re-brand the Caribbean as part of their wellness campaign based the theme, “Relax, Restore, Return”.