Illegal ganja trade more profitable?

THE EDITOR: Until the early 1940s, marijuana was sold legally in TT, mostly in rural districts, before being banned. (In my opinion this was encouraged by the rum lobby). It became popular in the US mostly among the hippies and continues to be popular in many countries. In the US there are 39 states where ganja is now legal.

However, ganja remains against the law in our country, encouraging a huge illegal trade, largely from Venezuela. This encouraged the Keith Rowley government to pass a law to allow citizens to plant four ganja plants. However, how to acquire, where to plant, etc were never stated.

When prime minister Dr Rowley demitted office and promoted Stuart Young to that position (much to the dismay of his PNM), Young called an election which he lost.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar's UNC a pledged – via a full-page ad in all dailies – to legalise ganja.

Currently, with ganja still against the law and causing so much violent crime and the outflow of our US dollars, is our ganja still forbidden? Or is more profitable for the illegal trade?

PETER O'CONNOR

via e-mail