A Jamaican doctor and MP says “No!

”Local Architect Burns Conolly has launched a Facebook page “Cannabis Cayman” (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cannabis-Cayman/387431518026551) “To bring awareness of the medicinal benefits of Cannabis to the Cayman Islands and to promote its legalization for medicinal uses.”

“Not only will medicinal cannabis save Caymanian lives,” he says,  “but may give business opportunities at the same time…..Lets legalize it now.”

Although on his Facebook page it only has 382 ‘thumbs up’ CNS has reported that a straw poll they recently conducted “in which more than 500 people voted, only 7% said the drug should remain illegal. 80% said it should be legalized for both medical and recreational and 14% agreed it should be a lawful medicine”.

iNews Cayman has published a number of articles on decriminalizing the use of ganga for medical use all supporting it.

However, Dr Dayton Campbell, who is a medical practitioner and a member of the Jamaican parliament was reported in an article on The Gleaner published September 19 2013 that “acquisition of criminal records by young men for the smoking of a ganja spliff (a small portion), studies have made a direct link between the smoking of cannabis and mental illness”.

“”A number of studies have shown an association between chronic marijuana use and mental illness. High doses of marijuana can produce a temporary psychotic reaction (involving hallucinations and paranoia) in some users, and using marijuana can worsen the course of illness in patients with schizophrenia,” he warned.

Quoting again from the Gleaner article Dr Campbell said:

“A three-month study of trauma victims at the University Hospital of the West Indies showed that ganja was the most prevalent substance found in their bodies.

“Fifty per cent of the trauma victims had the marijuana in their system,” said Campbell, as against 43 per cent of alcohol found in the bodies of crash victims.

“So we have this impression that it is drinking and driving that is the main reason for some of our road traffic accidents.”

He said the data had proved otherwise.

Dr. Campbell also pointed out that cannabis use before sex posed a high risk factor for the acquisition and transmission of sexually transmitted infections.

To read the whole article go to:

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130919/news/news1.html

See also iNews Cayman story today “High time to decriminalise ganja“