Hello Everyone,
There seems to be a lot of news lately about marijuana legislation. As this "unofficial" agricultural product in St. Vincent and the Grenadines could make a significant source of revenue for the country I'd like to explore some pros and cons concerning legalization specifically concerning this country.
Lets start with the cons:
Obviously, smoking pot is harmful to a human being, one joint is the same as 10 cigarettes (which are still legal by the way), it has been a well known fact for a while that cigarettes are bad for you.
It has been said that use of Marijuana may lead to use of harder drugs such as heroin or cocaine. That may very well be true, as right now it is still in a criminal circuit, so exposure to the hard drugs will be facilitated.
Where is the sense in legalizing if surrounding countries still have marijuana as an illegal substance, packaging and having it on a boat will be facilitated but there will be a huge problem granting an export license, what use is a ships manifest going to be except for an immediate incarceration
And last but not least, lots of countries would definitely react negatively if St. Vincent and the Grenadines legalized cannabis, meaning less foreign aid. The pertinent question here is one of $$$ balances I guess.
The pros:
TAXES TAXES TAXES, Cannabis is a drug, same like alcohol and could be heavily regulated as such.
Revenue from tourism could be enhanced, I am sure there would be tourists wanting to visit a Caribbean Island to smoke some weed on the beach legally.
The quality of the cannabis produced on the fertile soil in St. Vincent is reported to be very good, it could definitely be used for medicinal purposes, even be an export product as that.
Less pressure on the police and the jails.
And last but not least: if the hard working Marijuana growers that are now operating small hardly accessible farms could go a bit more in the open (I envision government land leases for example) they could employ workers and have byproducts such as carrots, tomatoes, pineapples etc!
