MPs set to debate reforming laws on cannabis
Reform of Bermuda’s laws on cannabis will today be debated in the House of Assembly.
Government Whip Cole Simons said: “I think it will be a long debate because it’s a topical issue and, as we look at other jurisdictions, they are certainly examining and updating their prohibition laws.
“Countries have evolved and changed and laws that were appropriate in the early days may not be today.
“It’s a movement worldwide to review drug prohibition laws for effectiveness.”
A 137-page report prepared by an independent advisory group and made public earlier this month, urged Government to make cannabis immediately available for medicinal use, decriminalise personal possession of the drug as a priority and consider eventually legalising it completely
Those were the findings of the Cannabis Reform Collaborative, set up by Public Safety Minister Michael Dunkley last December.
Other key recommendations by the group include the introduction of a less punitive warning system, an end to racial profiling in the legal system, increasing the legal age for alcohol consumption to 21, and increased spending on cannabis education and prevention.
The report’s summary said: “A phased approach to cannabis reform offers the benefits of assessing, establishing and implementing long-term plans that focuses on more efficient prevention initiatives, effective treatment programmes that are supported by the Ministry of Health and sensible, society-guided regulations that our community understands.”
In other business, PLP MP Walton Brown will ask MPs to accept the recommendations of a Parliamentary committee report into candidates’ eligibility to stand in elections and a legal opinion from London QC James Goudie, who said that candidates should make full disclosure of Government contracts.
A minority report by Shadow Ministers Mr Brown and Kim Wilson attached to the select committee report, which said that election candidates should disclose any interest they have in Government contracts, called into question the right of Finance Minister Bob Richards and OBA MP Jeff Sousa to sit in the House of Assembly.
The minority report said that both Mr Richards and Mr Sousa declared interests in Government contracts in line with election law, when they ran as United Bermuda Party candidates in 2007 general election.
It added: “Although both men were widely believed to be involved in the same or similar contracts in 2012, neither of them made any declaration in accordance with the Constitution and the Act.”
Finance Minister Bob Richards will table three documents related to the proposed Par-la-Ville Hotel involving a deed of surrender between the Corporation of Hamilton and Mexico Infrastructure Finance and other documents covering loans and mortgages related to the project.