Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has admitted that in the seven-plus months it has been in Government, no time was spent examining the decriminalisation of marijuana.
He revealed this yesterday minutes before he left for a 12-day trip to the US, UK and Ghana.
He made the comment in response to a question on a T&T Guardian article yesterday, headlined "AG looks at legal ganja", which suggested Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi had started the process of looking at the possibility of decriminalising ganja.
Rowley said he would be surprised if Al-Rawi spoke to decriminalising marijuana despite the fact that it was not discussed in Cabinet.
"I lead the Cabinet and I don't know that any such examination is taking place. I've seen the headline, I haven't read the story but I'm pretty sure the Attorney General will really want to explain that. We have been in office for seven months and so whatever conversation generated that headline, there is certainly some misunderstanding there," Rowley said.
In the article, Al-Rawi said Government had begun statistical groundwork for decriminalising marijuana possession and was also reviewing the Dangerous Drugs Act. He also said a wide consultation will be planned before any policy decision is taken.
However, Rowley was adamant that decriminalising marijuana is not something that the Government is examining at this point in time.
Asked whether it was something the Government would look at, Rowley replied, "What happens in the future we will deal with that when we get to it."
Speaking to members of the media after Rowley left on his trip, Al-Rawi insisted he was speaking as Attorney General and not on behalf of the Government.
"I am the Attorney General of T&T and it is quite simple, the questions posed to me by Gail Alexander were in the context of the work that's going on in the prison system. Specifically, the questions were posed in the context of the maximum sentencing approach and the issue that the Archbishop has raised, which coincides with the issue that we put into the public domain of really looking to see how people who are remanded have been managed by the criminal justice system," Al-Rawi said.
He said that statistics were being looked at, as one could not engage in the exercise of sentence applications or treatment of remandees on marijuana possession matters without looking at the statistical impact.
He admitted though that he does not report everything that goes on in the Office of the AG to the Prime Minister, in terms of examination of material or case by case aspects nor does the Prime Minister or others engage in the same and with other ministries.