Officials in the Cayman Islands have published a report on options for marijuana reform following voters’ approval last year of a referendum supporting cannabis decriminalization.
The self-governing British territory’s Law Reform Commission (LRC) on Wednesday issued a discussion paper titled, “Cannabis Reform: Options for a Harm Minimisation Framework”—and they are accepting public comments on its findings through September 1.
The document lays out a range of model policies to build on the territory’s existing medical cannabis law while analyzing benefits and drawbacks of each—ultimately concluding that decriminalizing possession and consumption without allowing retail access and marketing “would be most likely to reduce the negative impacts of prohibition while mitigating the risks of reform.”
The commission notes that “cannabis has deep historical, cultural and religious roots across the Caribbean” and was “grown and used freely long before it was prohibited.” Prohibition, it said, “is a relatively recent development, which occurred without the benefit of scientific evidence about the harm or beneficial properties of cannabis.”
“There is a broad consensus that the prohibition of cannabis has been generally ineffective in deterring its use.”
“Even if prohibition deters or suppresses cannabis use to some extent, it is important to evaluate any benefits of
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