PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — The Trinidad and Tobago government is examining the possibility of decriminalising marijuana and is reviewing existing legislation as well as planning wide consultation before adopting any position, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi has said.

He told the Trinidad Guardian newspaper yesterday that there has been "a full exercise of analysing the types of crime in our prisons and the pre-trials detention or remand statistics for a range of offences, including possession of narcotics, and particularly possession of cannabis.

"From that perspective there’s certainly a drive to gather statistical information, as the issue of decriminalising of marijuana isn’t a simple one on the public side," he said.

Al-Rawi told the newspaper that "if one were to argue for decriminalisation, the limits to be applied must be considered".

"Does one wish to have a bus driver or teacher who’s in the course of using narcotics, although decriminalised, on the job? That’s one set of societal factors to consider. On the other hand, is it right to engage in pre-trial detention in remand for two joints of marijuana where your detention is by far longer than the conviction you can have? "So obviously it involves proper consultation after gathering of statistical information so that when the issue is brought to the public’s attention, it must be brought with facts, statistics, extrapolation on statistics, androecial impact consideration as Trinidad and Tobago is a multi-dimensional society.

There are, for instance, the views of religious bodies and civil society groups that have to be factored against any decision like this."

Al-Rawi said Government is "obliged to take a very holistic approach to agitating the issue". "We have to consider it as it applies across the board, be it in the criminal justice system, in the social factors associated with people detained for narcotic use of a small quantity and the societal message you send to your young, aged or your disadvantaged.

"So that kind of exercise is what we’re engaged in and we’ll certainly not shy away from issues but embrace them in a comprehensive, responsible fashion. After full consultation, a policy decision will be taken and the requisite instruction to attenuate — reduce the force of — the laws or draft new laws, will then be taken."

Al Rawi told the Trinidad Guardian that the government has started the groundwork to decriminalise marijuana. "Definitely the statistical approach being taken in the consultation on the prison analysis is one of those springboards into that venture. As an enabler of laws I must accept the views of several interest sectors.

When one hears the judiciary, Caricom (Caribbean Community) leaders, states that have gone that way and several sectoral interest groups speak to the need for decriminalisation, those aren’t soft voices which haven’t thought about issues."

Caricom leaders have established the Caricom Cannabis Commission to look into the matter of decriminalising marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Caricom Secretary General Irwin La Rocque has said the objective " is to conduct an inquiry into the social, economic, health and legal issues surrounding marijuana use in the Caribbean". But Jamaica has already decriminalised the possession of small quantities of marijuana.