Edmond Campbell and Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporters

THE GANJA debate has resurfaced with Prof Barry Chevannes, former head of the Ganja Commission, dismissing claims by senior parliamentarian Senator K.D. Knight that the use of the drug could affect judgement and lead to violent actions.

Knight told his colleagues in the Senate on Friday that the society had become ambivalent about the use of ganja.

"'Don't worry about the 'spliff', forget it'," Knight suggested was the nonchalant response from many Jamaicans.

Charging that marijuana affected the judgement of persons who used it, Knight argued that the society could not expect what he described as normal behaviour from youngsters who used the drug.

"If the youngster is smoking this ganja, anytime, anywhere, anyhow, he must be affected. So when he takes out his knife and carves someone else up, it is his judgement that is affected," Knight contended.

"Those on the street corners who use ganja, cocaine and alcoholic beverage ... so if alcohol, which we know affects judgement, is combined with drug use, which we know affects judgement, what we expect?" he asked. "You don't need a rocket scientist to work that out."

Health problem

The smoking of ganja, said Knight, should be treated as a health problem. He urged Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne to expand the drug courts that were established during his tenure as national security minister.

But Chevannes said the notion that ganja smoking influences individuals to act violently was not corroborated by science. He said scientific studies have shown that ganja is a pacifier, unlike some drugs which work as stimulants.

"It makes smokers feel like they are one with the world. They often adopt an 'everything-is-everything' attitude," he said.

Laid-back attitude

Chevannes, who chaired the National Commission on Ganja, said the drug might influence individuals to take a more laid-back attitude, rather than engage in aggressive behaviour.

Among other recommendations, the commission's report proposed that persons such as Rastafarians be allowed to use ganja in small quantities.

The university professor, however, agreed that teenagers should not smoke the drug because it influenced them not to concentrate on charting an ambitious future.

"There is enough evidence to suggest that it demotivates them at a time when they need to be highly motivated," Chevannes argued.

Document not debated

A joint select committee of Parliament which examined the Ganja Commission's report tabled its own document in the House of Representatives in 2004. To date, however, the document has not been debated.

Chevannes said he was not satisfied with the level of progress that has been made in Parliament with the discussions on the decriminalisation of ganja.

"I am not pleased because, after all the work that we did, to have it stalled at this stage doesn't make sense," he said.

He, however, suggested that the lack of progress could be based on the constitutional changes that are pending with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.