Thair is top Youth MP

PLEASANTVILLE Secondary School’s Thair Alexander was adjudged the country’s top Youth MP as the 16th National Youth Parliament yesterday debated the decriminalisation of marijuana, at Tower D, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.

An Opposition motion to decriminalise the possession of small amounts of the herb for medicinal or recreational use was narrowly defeated by 23 votes “against” and 22 votes “for.”

As Opposition MP for Lopinot, Alexander tried to calm Government fears that decriminalisation would make marijuana available to youngsters by saying harsh legal penalties already exist for anyone selling the drug near schools. “Persons selling in places not legally regulated will be met with the full brunt of the law.”

Saying Government has failed miserably to combat the drug-problem, he said, “If we cannot beat them, then regulate them.” Fearing dim job prospects for youngsters convicted for having small amounts, Alexander warned, “We are more likely to breed lawlessness back into our country if we continue to place such stringent punishment on such minor offences.”

However Education Minister Shantal Seepersad asked why the Government should spend billions of education, only for studies to attest that marijuana impairs students’ ability to learn. She hit the Opposition’s “bogus studies”, prompting Opposition MP for Caroni Central Kemuel Pascall to object on the ground of imputing improper motives.

Opposition Leader Maya London lamented that laws criminalising marijuana are carried out mostly against poor, young, black males, while white-collar criminals never appear in law-courts.

Attorney General Shekinah Lambkin said marijuana use can have tragic consequences such as the case of a 23 year old man who collapsed and died after use.

Opposition MP for Mayaro Jasher De Gannes sang for the House and rebutted another MP’s views, beyond just reading her script. She calculated 112 men jailed for marijuana, jailed at a cost of $25,000 per person, each month cost the State some $3 million.

Health Minister Christina Foster said marijuana is “dangerous, dispensable and detrimental to the future of TT,” with its component THC linked to induced psychosis.

Foster said only 60 of the 500 chemicals in marijuana have been researched, so the lives of citizens must not be gambled with by decriminalisation.

For the Opposition, Chaguanas East MP Danielle Roberts said, “Marijuana grows in nature, so doesn’t the idea of making nature illegal seem a bit unnatural to you?” She said the plant, which was only banned in the Caribbean in the 1930s, can treat cancer, muscle spasms and seizures; and lacks the side-effects of pharmaceuticals advertised on television.

Barataria MP Kerdonia Walcott said marijuana eases nerve pain for cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS patients, but Sport Minister Elliot Haynes said its effect on the mind are unknown. Walcott argued the drug is no more harmful than alcohol or tobacco, but Foster retorted, “We know all the compounds in it (alcohol and tobacco) and so what could happen.”

Senate Vice-President Nigel de Freitas named the top three debaters as Alexander (first), Pascal from Costaat (second) and UWI’s Shantal Seepersad (third.) Sport Minister Shamfa Cudjoe hailed Opposition MP for Chaguanas East Darielle Roberts for handling rebuttals, plus Seepersad, Monsegue, Roberts, Pascal, Alexander, and De Gannes.

Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George urged the youngsters to keep discussing public affairs and rope in others likewise, saying, “Democracy rests on engaged citizens.”