Six months after the decriminalization of cannabis in Trinidad and Tobago, some early results are in.
Among other things, the nation has seen a significant drop in cannabis-related arrests. A somewhat confusing rollout and COVID-related delays have, however, pushed back the establishment of a fully regulated medical cannabis industry and fueled an apparent spurt in illicit cultivation.
When amendments to the country’s Dangerous Drugs Act were pitched to the population and members of Parliament six months ago, Faris Al Rawi, the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, said it would be the country’s most aggressive realignment in the area of drug policy and criminal justice reform in decades. Indeed, the Act allows persons to possess up to thirty grams of cannabis and five grams of cannabis resin without penalty, and it makes possession of between thirty grams and sixty grams of cannabis and up to 10 grams of cannabis resin a ticketable offense. Previously, any amount of cannabis resulted in a criminal penalty.
So far, some results are significant. An analysis of data from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service by Cannabis Wire shows that between January and December of 2019, a period before the Act was in force, the country’s Police Service arrested and charged 3,630 individuals for offenses related to cannabis: 3,254 for possession, and 376 for possession with the intent to sell. Since the passage of the Act in December, however, up until the end of April 2020, only 192 arrests have been made: 117 for possession, and 75 for possession with intent to sell.
Still, parts of the decriminalization rollout have been “flawed,” Nazma Muller, a cannabis legalization activist, told Cannabis Wire. She pointed out, for example, that citizens still have no legal access to seeds, which the Ministry of Agriculture has said they will provide, although the Act has granted them the right to cultivate cannabis since December. Muller has again begun to protest the delays and announced plans to form a union to represent cannabis farmers in their dealings with the Government.