Emergence of Drug Courts and Mandatory Rehabilitation Programs
4.44. Recent developments include more benevolent laws which seek to treat the use of cannabis and other drugs as a public health issue and direct the offender to rehabilitation. The emergence of Drug Courts, Drug Treatment Courts, which are specialised courts and mandatory rehabilitation programs for drug offenders in the region illustrates this trend toward changing the punitive, criminal sanction backed legal regime. The creation of such courts in Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, 99 together with the accompanying parent legislation, create a de facto decriminalised system. These courts have authority to place a drug offender in a health facility to undergo treatment for substance use disorders instead of being fined or imprisoned. Such judicial programs correspond to the thrust of authoritative world bodies emphasising that cannabis should be treated as a public health instead of a criminal justice issue and that harm reduction strategies should be employed.100 4.45. Such courts also attempt to address the high levels of incarceration of persons with substance use disorders. However, eligibility criteria vary across jurisdictions. Drug trafficking offences are not usually considered in these courts, and many jurisdictions do not consider participants with violent offences. While welcome initiatives, they cannot substitute for improved laws regulating cannabis/ marijuana.
5. SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL CONTEXT - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE LAW 5.1. While the mandate of the Commission goes far beyond the question of cannabis/ marijuana for medical purposes, the scientific and medical components of the cannabis/ marijuana issue are vital to the question of law reform in two main ways. On the one hand, accurate, up-to-date scientific evidence is necessary to evaluate the likely physiological impact of cannabis/ marijuana as it relates to identified problems in the justice system. On the other hand, the value of cannabis/ marijuana for medical purposes cannot be underestimated. 5.2. Understanding accurately the scientific and in particular, the medical facts about cannabis, is important for law-making and law reform, since marijuana is currently classified under law and international treaties as a “dangerous drug”. This classification describes a substance that has no medicinal or other value. Given that the evidence illustrates that this is an inaccurate description of the plant and its derivative products, logically, its classification is now questionable and should be reviewed. 101
Uncertainty of the Cannabis Substance and Different Strains of Cannabis 5.3. There are some obstacles to a new regulatory regime or change to the law which relate to the composition of cannabis. Many are unsure of the psychotropic effects of the plant and there is a considerable amount of confusion about what cannabis actually is. That is in fact, understandable, since, as we have learnt, it is a varied plant, with vastly different scientific properties. In addition, the issues of dosage and purity of grade are important factors that could dramatically alter the intended effects of medicinal marijuana. Medical uses should be carefully controlled and monitored. Drug Court (Treatment and Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act No 40 of 1999 of Jamaica. Trinidad and Tobago started a Drug Treatment Project under the auspices of the OAS in 2013, but this is a voluntary program. It nevertheless acknowledges the changing legal policy. See ‘A Policy to Establish Drug Treatment Courts in Trinidad and Tobago’, http://www.cicad.oas.org/fortalecimiento_institucional/dtca/activities/Trinidad/FINAL%20DTC.%20TRINIDAD%20AND%20TOBAGO.%20ENGLISH%20PD F.pdf. Belize is progressing toward a Drug Court. Rehabilitative approaches are utilised instead of traditional adversarial, punitive, court formats. 100 Drug Treatment Courts were developed in the USA in response to the rising number of drug-involved offenders in the criminal justice system. These specialised courts work with treatment providers to encourage drug-involved offenders to participate in treatment, and divert them from traditional criminal justice consequences such as prison. The phenomenon recognises that conventional courts may not deal with drug offenders in the best way and it may be better to reduce drug use and drug related crime through a system designed specifically for those issues. Courts are supported by trained professionals (judges/magistrates, other criminal justice staff, drug treatment personnel). Models vary and treatment programs may be either mandatory or voluntary. 101 The dangerous drug status of marijuana itself hindered researchers from doing the necessary scientific research to prove that it should not be so classified and in fact, educate our public. Since the 1960’s The UWI has been conducting experimental studies on marijuana, but at great costs and difficulty. 99
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