Jamaica Decriminalizes Small Amounts of Marijuana

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Marijuana has been pervasive but illegal in Jamaica for decades, consumed as a medicinal herb, puffed as a sacrament by Rastafarians and sung about in the island’s famed reggae music.

After many years of dialogue about the culturally entrenched drug, and emboldened by changes to drug laws in U.S. states, Jamaica’s Parliament on Tuesday night gave final approval to an act decriminalizing small amounts of pot and establishing a licensing agency to regulate a lawful medical marijuana industry.

The historic amendments pave the way for a “cannabis licensing authority” to be established to deal with regulating the cultivation and distribution of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes. Both houses of Jamaica’s legislature have approved the legislation.

“This is a big step in the right direction, but there’s still a lot of work to do,” said Delano Seiveright, director of the Cannabis Commercial and Medicinal Taskforce.

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The New York Times