reproduced in the table below. Based on these statistics, the rate of arrests calculated for illegal drugs per 100,000 inhabitants in the Commonwealth Caribbean, ranged from 96 in Guyana to 809 in Belize.146 6.9 More recent statistics show similar patterns. In Trinidad and Tobago, for example, in 2012, 3128 males and 265 females were arrested for cannabis/ marijuana; in 2015, 3220 males and 270 females were arrested and in 2017, 3022 males and 201 females were arrested. During the period 2015 to 2017, Grenada experienced a slight (3%) decline in the total number of marijuana related arrests, falling from 601 in 2015 to 583 in 2017. Guyana has experienced a significant increase of 53% of arrests that were marijuana related. In Jamaica, even after decriminalisation, between January 1, 2017, and November 30, 2017, a total 937 persons were arrested in Jamaica for breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act as follows; 796 males and 141 females147. The age range for persons arrested was between 15 and 76 years old. Moreover, as medical marijuana products become available overseas and even within the region, the inability to enforce the law becomes more obvious. Attempting to police individuals who grow or use cannabis/ marijuana for personal use, especially medicinal use, is even more difficult. 6.10. The spectacular failure of the prohibition based legal regime in the region and globally to curtail cannabis/ marijuana use is concerning for law enforcement and many policymakers. To many, it is enough proof of the need for law reform. They advised that a considerable proportion of law enforcement resources was diverted to the war on drugs and its associated violence with little or no returns in prevention. Thus, the continuance of such laws is considered unproductive.
Recidivism and Creating Hardened Criminals
6.11. There is significant concern that incarcerating persons for cannabis induces criminality, turning them into hardened criminals, more likely to create serious victim-based crimes. This is especially the case because of the stigma attached to such persons, now being criminalised, who cannot get jobs etc. afterward and are therefore rendered more vulnerable than before. Programs to assist ex-convicts are generally lacking too. A rising crime rate is therefore often identified as one of the “perverse outcomes” of the harsh, punitive approach to drugs, creating an even greater social evil in the “form of a growing pool of embittered, alienated, and unschooled criminals.”148
The Costs and Inefficiencies of a Prohibitive Regime
6.12. Estimates place persons convicted for minor drug-related offences and possession of small quantities of illegal drugs, as constituting the bulk of prison populations in Caribbean Commonwealth countries (approximately 33 to 60 percent, most of whom are categorised as young offenders). 149 The United Nations Drug Control Programme 2000 Report on “Global Illicit Drug Trends”, acknowledged Source: (CICAD 2001). Calculations also based on statistics provided by Caribbean Community and the CIA Factbook 2000. See <http://caricom.org/expframes2htm> http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ac.html>. 147 126 of these females were arrested for attempting to export, confirming the ‘drug mule’ status of women. 148 Marcus Day and Axel Klein- ‘From war on drugs to harm reduction in the Caribbean: the influence of the European commission, the UNDCP and the Jamaican Ganja Commission.’ 149 Based on estimates from the Report from the United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention 1998, using nationwide surveys. 146
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