Marijuana researcher turned politician, Marcus Ramkissoon, estimates that if cannabis were to be decriminalised and state dispensaries established throughout the country, revenue generated from the sale of the currently illegal drug should be able to bring Value Added Tax (VAT) down to 12.5 per cent.
The calculation is based on the value of annual marijuana seizures, an estimate of its anticipated usage and what Ramkissoon and his youthful Trinidad Humanity Campaign (THC) believe to be the untapped health and economic potential of the drug.
Such a proposal comes packaged midway through the organisation's manifesto for the September 7 election but stands very much as the group's flagship project.
Ramkissoon's views on the subject arise from professional experience as a researcher on the medical value of the cannabis plant and current work in Jamaica on a wide variety of clinical applications.
This, he says, should be the approach of the next government of T&T. He asks what, specifically, does the current People's Partnership (PP) administration mean by "medical tourism" and answers by saying such a sub-sector would only make sense if the country offered something different from what is available elsewhere.
"That is the medical tourism that we are talking about (in Jamaica), bringing patients in to be treated with something that they cannot be treated with in their own country, not just the provision of doctors and rooms," he told T&T Guardian.
Any question on the subject sparks an extended mile-a-minute response from the 34-year-old political contestant facing the electorate for a second time. In Ramkissoon's view, the decriminalising of marijuana and its use exclusively for medicinal purposes would solve a variety of problems including the current incidence of over-crowded prisons.
His is not an argument against all prohibition, though, since he is opposed to the decriminalising of what he calls "hard drugs" and is in favour of aggressive rehabilitative work to restrict their use. He is also not advocating for recreational use of marijuana.
In 2010, Ramkissoon came up as an independent candidate against Herbert Volney of the United National Congress (UNC) who won with 10,835 votes and Kennedy Swarathsingh of the People's National Movement (PNM) who received 7,778. He counts his 34 votes on that occasion as a start.
Skipping the 2013 by-election, Ramkissoon is back as political leader of the THC and with a team of candidates he hopes will bring the tally to at least 21 and thereby enable the organisation to have a voice at proposed leadership debates convened by the Debates Commission.
So far, the THC list of candidates has reached four. Ramkissoon knows it will be an uphill climb, inclusive of the fact that the organisation would need to raise the required $5,000 per candidate on Nomination Day less than a week away.
Young entrepreneur, Joel Williams, chimes in frequently during the interview on what he calls the equity issues. As a former worker in the hospitality industry, he decries what he considers to be poor working conditions and general official apathy toward the plight of workers.
Seaman/entrepreneur, Zafir David, has a special interest in national security issues and is an advocate of a stronger, visible police presence throughout the country and greater efforts to protect the country's coastal areas.
He is also of the view that the potential for corruption within the security services is high and is an advocate of regular jurisdictional rotations involving personnel in state security.
National security has led the phased release of subject-specific proposals in areas of concern to the party. In fact, its ten-point Crime and Law Plan proposes stepped up mobile police patrols, an expansive programme of law reform, a standardising of criminal sentences and an increase in crimes deemed to be "misdemeanors."
It also calls for a clearer separation between violent and non-violent criminals, stronger action against corrupt police officers, stronger penalties for violent and other "serious" crimes and the use of more sophisticated equipment to weed out corrupt state security personnel.
There are also proposals for tracking and prosecuting white collar crime, including the actions of corrupt politicians.
Above all, Ramkissoon says, the THC is built on the notion of service and selfless philanthropy. He says he recently approached PNM leader, Dr Keith Rowley with the suggestion that scaled down national elections campaigns should be encouraged so that surplus campaign funds can be used to see about the homeless and otherwise disadvantaged.
He says his group, including his prospective candidate for Diego Martin West, David, was met with a cold reception from Dr Rowley but he hopes to take the message to other parties in the race and is leading by example with a modest campaign that makes heavy use of social media.
The THC has forged a special relationship with the Margaret Kistow Home for orphans in Arima and Ramkissoon is a longstanding contributor of meals for the homeless.
So far, the party has its eyes on the St Joseph, Arima, Chaguanas East and Diego Martin West constituencies.
The THC is hoping that its headline issues of medicinal cannabis use, law reform, changes in the approach to public health, environmental management, improved education and good governance will hold sway over a voting population fed, according to Williams, a vast diet of promises that do not become reality.
Admittedly overwhelming odds don't seem to stand in their way.