The Guyana Rastafarian Council held a protest on Monday opposite the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC) which housed the 50th Sitting of the National Assembly. The ‘Ganja Rally’ called for the PPP/C administration to legalize marijuana use for their religious practice.
The council said that if its concerns are not respected by the administration, it will move to the courts for legal acknowledgement.
In an interview with Guyana Standard today, General Secretary of the Guyana Rastafarian Council, Ras Khafra said members were relying on members of government to engage their moral compass and move swiftly to legalize the use of marijuana for religious purposes. Inaction he said, has now left them with no choice but to consider legal action.
Several countries have already done major overhauls of their legislation, including Jamaica, Belize and Antigua where each home is allowed to cultivate no more than four plants for personal use and in some cases religious purposes.
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, smoking marijuana in private had also been decriminalized, but public recreational use of marijuana remains a crime. Cannabis use for religious purposes is also decriminalized there too.
Ras Khafra told the Guyana Standard that while the current administration has amended Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substance Control Act of 1999, to decriminalize possession of small amounts of Marijuana, it does not address the issue of use for religious purposes.
“It is not in keeping with the recommendations of CARICOM which states that the Rastafari community’s religious rights must be recognised in all the amendments moving forward. Guyana is the only country that is making a bill without considering the rights of the Rastafari community,” Ras Khafra said.
He noted that the council had met and petitioned both the previous and past administration about including the use to marijuana for sacramental purposes. He noted that despite these consultations, as well as the fact that the Constitution protects freedom of religious expression, the community’s rights are still being disregarded.
