Can police legally exercise the discretion to not arrest someone caught with less than 2 grams of cannabis; about one stick of marijuana? Well on Friday night on this newscast you heard Assistant Commissioner of Police Maureen Leslie explain her position (Maureen Leslie explains Controversial Police Marijuana Policy), that she is not condoning the use, sale or business of drugs, but offering an alternative for young, first-time offenders. It's an interesting new direction but is it legal? We didn't find many who were willing to weigh in on the subject, but Attorney Michael Peyrefitte did have a very candid perspective: he says it is wrong, and illegal.
Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney at Law
"The law says that marijuana is illegal and if you are found with marijuana you can be charged with possession. If you are found with a certain amount and if it is beyond that particular amount then you are charged with trafficking. But the law on marijuana is very clear: marijuana is illegal and if it is found on you, you can be charged for possession of a controlled substance."
Keith Swift,
The operative word you used there was can. So do the police have an option in whether or not they charge you for possession?
Michael Peyrefitte,
"Police officers, magistrates, judges, and lawyers don't make law. Law is made by parliament; the 29 people who sit on top of the hill in Belmopan. We do not have a choice. The police department does not have a choice as to what they want to charge in terms of the breaking of the law. If the law says that a piece of seed is illegal then the police have to charge you for that if they find a piece of seed on you. They do not have the choice to decide whether they want to charge you or not."
Maureen Leslie, Assistant Commissioner of Police
"We decide who we arrest. We make arrests every single day Keith. Everyday we arrest people and everyday we find that we have to decide yes or no if we should charge based on what we have. Once the matter goes to court then the Magistrate decides how he wants to deal with it. But if we have a case reported to us and if we believe the evidence is not there then we don't charge. At no time am I condoning the use and sale and business of drugs at all. I am totally against that. I am saying that instead of bringing in a 15 and 16 year old youth already at risk and pushing him through the system for no apparent reason other than that he had a piece of roach we can look at the matter. We can look at the matter and how we can assist that person; how we can assist him more than pushing him through the system."
Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney at Law
"The police department cannot get up one day and decide they are not going to arrest or charge you for a certain type of thing. They have to follow what the law says. And if parliament is saying that amount of weed is illegal then you have to charge for it because that's what the law says."
Today we spoke via telephone to Richard Bradley Jr. who has been the leading public advocate for the decriminalization of marijuana. He said he applauds the move and anticipates that it will ease the tension in the city and the rest of the country. He stressed however that it is not reaching the real root of the problem and all possession needs to be decriminalized.
And now you've heard from all sides, but what do you feel about the conditional decriminalization of 2 grams of marijuana? Well, you can tell us byvoting in our poll.