Activist keeps up ‘weed’ protest

ACTIVIST Nazma Muller kept up her protest on Friday outside Parliament for the decriminalisation of marijuana which she said was now overdue of a date promised by the Government. While the House of Representatives did not sit, Muller did greet one or two members of the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Human Rights, Equality and Diversity which had publicly sat.

She told Sunday Newsday this was the third Friday protest she had held since the day she had been charged with obscene language in her chant outside Parliament urging “Free the weed.”

Muller said, “My trial is on November 13. I have a team of attorneys: Dr Emir Crowne, Jason Jones and Matthew Gayle.”

The hearing will be in the Port of Spain Magistrate Court Third Court.

Citing 16-year-old Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg, Muller said, “I am being a Greta for ganja. I am impressed by how just one person can send a message, come rain or snow.

“Mostly it is to remind Dr Rowley of his promise. He had said by the end of June the Ganja Bill would be brought to Parliament to decriminalise small amounts for personal use and medical marijuana.”

Muller said two Cabinet ministers had given different estimates of where the bill is now at, one saying it had been presented to Cabinet, but another saying was 90 per cent complete while issues have arisen with certain stakeholders.

Sunday Newsday asked if she reckoned the Government was being cautious in this pre-election period. Muller replied that decriminalisation is a low-hanging fruit which can be easily done and which will bring benefits, to jump start the TT economy, employ young men and give pain relief to certain medical conditions. “Every day I am getting calls from people with cancer seeking relief,”Muller said. “A woman with stage four stomach cancer was told by her doctor she is too weak for chemo, and her pills are making her constipated. “Ganja is her last hope.”

Muller’s colleague identifying herself only as Angel Halo held a sign saying, “Ganja for Granny”. Angel said her doctor recommended marijuana for her pain. “My care-giver’s son has sickle cell anaemia and is in chronic pain. She must boil the root into a potion to relieve his pain so he can go to school. He is 14.”