{"id":178,"date":"2019-08-29T23:02:40","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T23:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/?p=178"},"modified":"2019-10-11T00:35:43","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T00:35:43","slug":"the-decriminalisation-of-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/archives\/178","title":{"rendered":"The Decriminalisation of Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Trinidad and Tobago\nAssociation of Psychologists (TTAP) supports the move to decriminalize\nmarijuana possession and its use, with conditions. After a  consideration of the social, medicinal and\ndevelopmental factors, we believe that under the current dispensation where the\npossession of even small quantities of marijuana for personal use is illegal\nand attracts punitive prison sentences, these punitive measures can result in a\ngreat deal of social displacement, financial hardship, career interruptions and\nfamily dislocations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its positive\nmedicinal reputation and its minimal known impact on social or interpersonal\ndisharmony, marijuana-related arrests have been significant in number in\nTrinidad and Tobago, the effect of which is notable. A 2019 CNC3 report shared\nthat there have been 80,815 marijuana-related matters in the Magistrate\u2019s Courts\nbetween the years 2007 – 2018. Furthermore, the report highlighted that 31.8%\nof persons in remand are there for marijuana-related offences. The high\npercentage highlights the fact that incarceration of persons who use marijuana\nin minimal amounts is neither economically nor socially practical, and that\neffective changes should be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many developed and\ndeveloping countries, the decriminalisation of marijuana possession and use is\ngaining momentum. CNC3\u2019s research also revealed that 610,000 Caribbean citizens\nhave tried marijuana at least once in their life and that the cultivation,\nsale, research, possession and use of the herb is increasing. Specifically, it\nis now accepted that its use for medical purposes is legitimate and its\nbenefits tremendous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ongoing research also\nstates that cannabinoids, a chemical found in the marijuana plant has been\nuseful in treating distressing and debilitating ailments such as epilepsy,\nglaucoma, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, PTSD, psychosis and cancer.  According to a report by the National\nInstitute of Health, marijuana and cannabis have been used to treat ailments\nfor at least 3,000 years. However, understanding the appropriate usage is of\ncrucial importance if one is to benefit from the herb without suffering any\nassociated potential negative effects (e.g. addiction and other mental health\nchallenges). This would involve moderate use that is in compliance with\nspecific instructions from a qualified healthcare provider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is noteworthy also,\nthat consequent to the numerous marijuana-related arrests, the roles of persons\nconvicted as parent, child, bread winner and family member are seriously\ndisrupted with adverse consequences for family life and child rearing. It is\nwell known that exposure to prison time is a contributor to the development of\ncareer criminals who upon release can gravitate to further criminal activity as\nthe usual means of social and economic mobility are lessened. Many times they\nare not even rehabilitated upon release from serving a long prison term. The\nchildren of these prisoners are often stigmatized and subjected to bullying in\ntheir schools and these disruptions in family life has very little social value\nand contributes to a fractured social order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is projected that decriminalization\nwould reduce or eliminate the multimillion dollar illegal trade as licensed\nindividuals or companies could safely cultivate and sell marijuana as per legal\nguidelines; free up valuable court time to deal with more serious cases pending\nfor many years, thus promoting a more efficient court system and by regulating\nthis activity, quality controls could be incorporated to prevent the addition\nof addictive substances to the herb, which is a feature of the unregulated\nstreet trade. These measures will not only reduce cost to the taxpayer but\nprovide a new revenue stream to the state through the implementation of licence\nfees and taxes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TTAP therefore supports\nthe decriminalisation of marijuana on the conditions that its use is adequately\nregulated, licenses to distribute are awarded to aptly trained\/informed\nhealthcare professionals, and the public is educated about its risks and\nbenefits so that they make healthy decisions that support not only their\nphysical, but also their mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly McFarlane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinical and Organisational\nPsychologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PRO,\nTT Association of Psychologists<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trinidad and Tobago Association of Psychologists (TTAP) supports the move to decriminalize marijuana possession and its use, with conditions. After a  consideration of the social, medicinal and developmental factors, we believe that under the current dispensation where the possession of even…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180,"href":"https:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions\/180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychologytt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}