The Caribbean Collective for Justice (CCJ) organisation says it has obtained a leaked copy of the 2014 report from Caricom's Marijuana Commission which recommended regional leaders consider decriminalising marijuana possession and permit the development of a marijuana industry for medicinal purposes.
The report recommended that leaders "explore any commercial benefit from a potential multi-billion dollar industry including research and development and also production of medicinal marijuana products."
The CCJ organisation is now calling on Caricom Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque to tell the region if the report is in fact authentic and why he has not made the findings of the Marijuana Commission public.
This comes on the heels of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar's statement on Friday that she would be guided by Caricom's position on marijuana. She was at the time addressing a forum hosted by the Powerful Ladies of T&T.
Yesterday the CCJ, through a statement, said the leaked report which they obtained was dated February 2014 and was submitted for consideration at a Heads of Government conference.
It said the report had not been released publicly "because various Heads did not agree with its conclusions, which recommended that a marijuana industry for medicinal purposes be developed selecting plants grown for cannabinoids, rather than THC; that the removal of incarceration as a penalty for marijuana possession be considered, in light of the number of young people arrested for the offence across the region; and that the Heads of Government therefore explore any commercial benefit from a potential multi-billion dollar industry including research and development and also production of medicinal marijuana products."
The CCJ organisation said, according to its sources, the initial report of the Marijuana Commission was rejected because individual Heads of Government did not agree with the findings of this independent report.