Pastor Dr. Hensworth W.C. Jonas has called for the repeal of the law decriminalizing small amounts of cannabis, citing concerns for the welfare of Antigua and Barbuda’s youth.
The current Cannabis Act permits each household to grow up to four plants and individuals to possess up to 15 grams for personal use.
At the launch of his book, Radical Discipleship, Dr. Jonas highlighted the challenges in regulating cannabis use. In response, the government has begun a study to evaluate the impacts of the legislative change.
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I am glad to see that someone of the caliber of Dr. Jonas has the guts to come out and openly call for this. I wrote about this extensively today. We are doing more harm than good to the youth by decriminalizing “small amounts” of marijuana for their use. We are opening the floodgates to the youths and young adults and telling them that growing, having and using marijuana is ok and acceptable. Once more what we need is preventative education, training and teaching and letting our youths know the risks of marijuana use. Our laws and legislation are heading in the wrong direction. If we continue on this path, 20 years from now our health system would be overwhelmed and unable to serve the many people whose lives has been destroyed by drugs.
One sad aspect of this liberalization is that the Rastas and others are saying it’s the additive to the herb that’s the problem. The smoke gets in their eyes to see and say that the herb itself is damaging to developing brains and that medical usage of the herb for some medical disorders is a completely separate issue.
I do not know of any substance or anything that does not have side effects. Life does. The “side effect” of life is death. Oxygen can damage your health, so can sunlight and water and all else. The worst drunk I experienced was from a water drinking competition as a child.. with licks after recovering the next day. Pure water.
Liberalization without education and responsibility is sending our children up in smoke. The social and medical cushions are absent… and these are not the sole responsibility of the government.
Thanks Dr Simon. We need more voices like yours in this fight to educate and save our youths.
Many people use the decriminalization of Cannabis as an excuse for our societal failures.
The problem is not the plant, no more than violence is the fault of the gun( weapon).
The problem starts (or does not ) in our homes and then moves to our schools and churches.
That is why we are seeing so many fine youths still gracing this land everyday in academics, sports, arts, and we also see many who are not doing well.
One thing we absolutely need to stop doing, is using Cannabis’ legal status as a political football.
I am not sure if I can agree with the writer and rather worse, I cannot agree with the approach implied – without any real evidence or study done.
The decriminalization of cannabis helped to prevent our young people from getting criminal records for having a joint. People are now acting as though the youth have suddenly started smoking. People who are even in their sixties would tell you that they knew people who were smoking weed since they were in school.
My suggested approach is: The law was passed a few years now, organize a committee to review the pros and cons of the passage of the law. Also, since similar laws has been passed in other countries, we can analyze the impact there as well. Since cigarette is sold legally at most corner store, what are the impacts of cigarette smoking compared to cannabis smoking on the health of the youths?
Reviews/feedback are always essential and we fail to do so. In a similar way, after the pandemic was considered over, I have not heard of a committee that was put in place to investigate such a great project. Did the government use the best approach in handling the situation? Were the lockdowns and all the protocols necessary? Was the mandatory vaccination appropriate? And since we have the Doctors responding to this article (they seem quiet about the vaccine), what effects/impacts have been observed from the vaccines? What steps do we plan to take when the next pandemics comes around?
We need tougher laws on domestic abuser/violence
Yes I Agree
Tougher laws for church people who beat up their wives and violate the pickney them.
Tougher laws for churches with multiple unregistered businesses and avoiding taxes
Tougher laws for religious institutions who are not compliant with the government system.
Cannabis is used as a sacrament. U hear anybody calling for your sacrament to be removed ?
Tougher laws for all the pastors who keep crime and violence silent in the church.
Go ahead and give your pastors the money every week. They need it to run their side business and give their catty. .
Remember, Jesus is coming, so keep giving money until he reaches.
In a country such as Antigua and Barbuda where the majority of persons are of African descent, it may not be a good idea to decriminalize marijuana. People of African descent in the western world has been forced a culture of marijuana smoking that encourages the youth to smoke early which reduces their mental capacity. Other countries do not have this problem. The Asians hardly would be affected by marijuana. You could drop it on their country for free and they leave it to rot just like trash. In Antigua if you drop free marijuana within couple hours a significant portion to the youth population would be incapacitated.
Hensworth Jonas has some nerve saying he wants the decrmilization of Marijuana repealed. Why doesn’t he focus on the homeless and mentally around him. I went to Sunnyside International School with Hensworth. He was 3 classes ahead of me and he was pompous and obnoxious then and worse now. I had words with him in 1991 when he refused to visit my dying father (who was attending of Central Baptist at the time). His excuse was that my parents had been going to CBC for 12 years and never bothered to become official members. What an imbecile!
Dear Hensworth Jonas,
Let’s ASSume, that we destroyed all of the HEMP PLANTS, brought to HUEmans by the Essence of Nature’s Ether. Impossible, but let’s just fantasise!
Next, [we] keep fentanyl, opium, opiates, cocaine(coca_leaves), addictive pharmaceuticals, alcohol, etc, prostitution, pedophilia, etc in Our society, how much of a change in morality, in the positive direction will such have on Our Culture?
@Bilbo of All Saints, your comment about Africans and their descendants, of which you’re entitled, is one of stupidest, asinine statement you can fucking write.
. Again, it’s your [right], and so to is mine, as I say to you, I’d gladly eliminate the “B” from Bilbo, add a “D” to create Dildo, send the message to your asinine thought process, so that every time you see an [African], or one whom you ASSume is an African, their natural, organic DILDO, would ride you from All Saints Village to All Fools Whorehouse!
@Dr. Jerry Simon, you are onto the [fact], that the Decriminalisation of Marijuana is not only being used, as a SCAPEGOAT, by the likes of Hensworth Jonas for political mileage(All RELIGIONS are political organizations), but again; the fact that, it’s a “political football.”
Jumbee_Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg🦶🏿Garrat_Bastard
Vere C. Edwards
Going back to where the cannabis Laws were does not make any sense. For me I am against all sort of smoking. Before cannabis was decriminalized , children was smoking the same way the only thing that change is that noq they walk around with a burnr splif in their mouth. All the Caribbean Islands and certain parts of the USA already decriminalized cannabis and soon there will be full Legalization of cannabis. Stopping it now Is like flogging a dead horse. Once you pull off the decriminalization of cannabis the prison is going to full.so putting the cannabis Law to where it was will not solve the problem.
were does not make any sense. For me I am against all sort of smoking. Before cannabis was decriminalized , children was smoking the same way the only thing that change is that now they walk around with a burnt splif in their mouth. All the Caribbean Islands and certain parts of the USA already decriminalized cannabis and soon there will be full Legalization of cannabis. Stopping it now Is like flogging a dead horse. Once you pull off the decriminalization of cannabis the prison is going to full.so putting the cannabis Law to where it was will not solve the problem.. it getting worst day by day nothing can stop it.
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I don’t think no church have any moral authority to speak when all they are doing is keep us foolish under white supremacists ideology domination, a complete spiritual maintenance of neocolinial agenda, but to the point of this marijuana smoke thing, this is not something you need for survival, so it’s a habit and can be bad, if it was some holy herb as some tout, then it should be done on certain religious time on the calendar, if I was a smoker of this so call holy herb I would probably do it at month end or so, but to do it constantly is a bad addicted habit or a drugs, not much is ever mentioned of bob Marley death by cancer been smoke related and neither king frank I demise by cancer, the world is hiding something from people because of some of these celebrity status of these people, and smoking herb or the cocaine are used by the government to control people in a spatial geography, it is given to the army to have their men kill for a efficacy favorable to the parties involved in war, in this case of herb agenda like the hippie 60’s FBI project in the USA, the marijuana relegate the young people to a turf or block that become their kingdom that they will die for, usually their is fights on the block, and that relegate them to lack of interest in work and real estate development , so the politicians get to sell out all the lands to white people and the youth high on herb oblivious to the fact and their civic duty, marijuana will leave you in anger because after coming down from your high you have to face life reality of doing nothing productive that can improve your life or the community, marijuana should not be illegal, because it’s the colonial when they landed here and saw Africans having a different smoke than theirs decided that the black people should not have industries like them having their cigarette market that create billions of dollars, but all smoke is harmful to human health, but in this situation it’s a tool to control certain mass population, in some USA states cocaine is legalize because of the wealthy capitalist doing it, just as now they want to legalize sodomy with a high abbreviation name today, which you know is harmful to the population because it’s human eradication, since there will be no reproduction, only maggots.this world and the agenda is determined by white people, and a reason for it, it is at the instructions of the white hegemony that marijuana become legal, it’s not no leaders we have that did it, though they attribute the praises to themselves to get elected, and they now have a sure bunch of apathetic young people with no political ideology to give them votes, if only the young people could a light up a revolution instead of a spliff, tires burning in the road and demand changes to their country by becoming civic minded, bob Marley say he want his right here on earth so get up and fight for your right. Wake up youths of tomorrow.
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