Some of those participants who attended the BBA’s inaugural conference.
Well-known and outspoken attorney at law Andrew Pilgrim is adamant that Barbados’ judicial system must be more lenient regarding marijuana offences.
At the time he was speaking as part of a panel discussion on the legalisation of marijuana, at the Barbados Bar Association’s first ever Whitsun Weekend Law Conference at the Barbados Hilton last Friday.
Pilgrim outlined that what was ironic was the fact that those found trafficking between 100 and 2 500 pounds of the drug often ended up spending 25 years in jail, while those found guilty of murder were successful in having these charges reduced to manslaughter, and could spend as little as seven years behind bars.
Indeed, he claimed that the bulk of those serving long sentences was due to marijuana trafficking convictions.
“The majority in Barbados doing long sentences now are doing long sentences for weed… the only way we will know what is going on with weed, is if we regulate it,” he stressed. In addition, he said that those found with a “spliff” were also placed in prison, while those persons charged with dangerous driving – causing death – were not sentenced to imprisonment, but at the most received a two year suspension of their driver’s licence.
“Magistrates are locking up people with a spliff and because they feel bad to sentence them to time, what they do is say, ‘I’m going to lock you up to think about what to do with you’.
Now there’s got to be something wrong with that! However, our Court of Appeal, in giving directions as to how to deal with persons charged with dangerous driving causing death, indicate that they are not given prison sentences,” the defence lawyer said.