ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) – The Grenada government says it will table in the Parliament a paper regarding the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes and will do so ahead of the next general election constitutionally due in 2023.

“When you have an issue of importance to the country, economically and otherwise, we should not be thinking about votes in the process of making that decision and this government has always been clear on what is best for the country has to be best for any political party,” Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell told a news conference on Wednesday.

He told reporters that the Minister of Agriculture with the support from Cabinet had in fact been working with stakeholders “as far as this important issue is concerned.

“I have already said my views on the use of marijuana and they have changed to some extent over the years,” Mitchell said, adding “if you had asked me this question 10 years ago, my flat answer would have been I not in that.

“But clearly, like everything else in life, you become more informed, our circumstances change and you change your own views and you have to be man enough to admit when your views have come around to a different position”.

Mitchell said that there is a “paper” that has already gone to Cabinet on the marijuana issue following discussions at the regional level “and our positions have been informed by some of the discussions”.

“That paper will be laid before Parliament for public discussion before it becomes law and therefore that is not a wait for the next election. We are not waiting,” he said.

“We have to show the courage and the necessary guts to make decisions that are not necessarily popular with everybody, but what is necessarily in the best interest of the country.

“So our position is clear. It doesn’t have to wait on anything, in fact it may happen before the final decision for a general election,” Mitchell said, adding ”we support the limited use of marijuana for medicinal purposes and other basic purposes.”

He compared the situation to the use of alcohol, insisting “I do not support the alcohol being freely used all over the place. We decriminalise alcohol use and at the same time we encourage people not to abuse it.

“The problem I have with the possible abuse is we have seen the negative effects on some of our young people and other people in the society by the misuse of marijuana. We have seen the effect of this negative consequences by the misuse of alcohol (and) some of the biggest problems we have had over the years within family structures and so on…has been people who have abused alcohol…” he added.