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Thursday, July 10, 2025

For­mer sen­a­tor on gan­ja le­gal­i­sa­tion

More sadness next year

by

Radhica De Silva
2386 days ago
20181227
Rev Daniel Teelucksingh

Rev Daniel Teelucksingh

For­mer In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor Rev Daniel Teelucks­ingh says if mar­i­jua­na is le­galised next year, there will be more sad­ness.

Speak­ing at the Susamachar Pres­by­ter­ian Church on Christ­mas Day, Teelucks­ingh said too many peo­ple were fac­ing de­pres­sion.

“There is bit­ter weep­ing and sad­ness all across this land, from Ica­cos and Ce­dros to Ma­yaro Man­zanil­la, San­gre Grande, the east-west cor­ri­dor, to Diego Mar­tin, all across this land. The sound of bit­ter weep­ing, par­ents cry­ing for their sons and daugh­ters; chil­dren cry­ing for their fa­ther or moth­er or sib­lings, “ Teelucks­ingh said.

Say­ing 500-plus peo­ple had been killed this year Teelucks­ingh said, “This pesti­lence is like a plague and it doesn’t seem to like we have the an­swer to all of this.”

He not­ed that no amount of Christ­mas ham­pers, bonus­es, toys and gifts would con­sole those who mourn.

“Do we fool our­selves and think these peo­ple who have died just like that every­thing will be al­right, do you think they will be com­fort­ed?”

He not­ed that par­ents were weep­ing for their chil­dren en­slaved by drugs.

“T&T is no longer a con­duit for nar­cotics since many of our young men and women are now drug users. If you think this is a tran­ship­ment point and drugs come from South Amer­i­ca and on­ly pass­ing through T&T, to go to Eu­rope and North Amer­i­ca, you made a mis­take, some of the drugs are right here, “ Teelucks­ingh said.

He not­ed that there was a pos­si­bil­i­ty that mar­i­jua­na could be le­galised next year.

“We are be­com­ing one of the great­est sets of drug users.

“It is like a pipeline that is trans­port­ing these drugs but it is a pipeline with holes and some of these drugs drop off in San Fer­nan­do and Port-of-Spain and else­where.

Par­ents are ac­tu­al­ly cry­ing be­cause they have lost their chil­dren to drugs, “Teelucks­ingh said. He not­ed that dur­ing Christ­mas there is al­ways the dis­gust­ing voic­es call­ing for rum.

“All year-round, bars are open and peo­ple are drink­ing like it is a dif­fer­ent blend for Christ­mas. We drink­ing from Jan­u­ary to De­cem­ber,” Teelucks­ingh said.

He not­ed that through­out this year, the North­ern Caribbean re­gion had been putting pres­sure in T&T for the le­gal­i­sa­tion of mar­i­jua­na.

“ Yes, we are sur­ren­der­ing to that voice as every­body seems to say what hap­pened to you peo­ple? What is wrong with us as we have not le­galised cannabis as they have done, “ Teelucks­ingh said.

He added, “ I have a feel­ing we are go­ing to get a new year gift, by next Christ­mas.

Next year the Christ­mas song will bring out the rum, brings out the pastelle and sor­rel and don’t hide the weed.”

He said T&T had al­ready ex­pe­ri­enced a ter­ri­fy­ing earth­quake and dev­as­tat­ing floods.

“Is it na­ture’s voice ap­peal­ing to T&T to set our moral life in or­der, “ Teelucks­ingh added.


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