WaPo: ‘British Block Cannabis Bill, Straining Ties’
In an article entitled “British crown blocks Bermuda’s cannabis bill, straining ties,” the Washington Post has highlighted the UK’s refusal to provide assent to the Cannabis Licensing Bill 2022.
The article said, “The idea was to bring Bermuda’s drug laws into the 21st century. The cannabis laws in Britain’s oldest overseas territory harmed Black islanders disproportionately, Attorney General Kathy Lynn Simmons said, and represented the “stain of colonialism.”
“So the government in this Atlantic archipelago of 64,000 people approved legislation to liberalize the code. All that remained to enact it was the assent of the governor, the British monarch’s representative in the territory — usually a formality.
“But some 3,300 miles away, in Mother Britain, there was a problem. The foreign secretary had concluded that the bill would put Britain in violation of international drug control treaties that prohibit signatories from permitting the recreational use of cannabis.
“Peter Clegg, a professor of politics and international relations at the University of the West of England, Bristol, said he couldn’t remember another instance in which a territorial governor has withheld assent from a bill approved by the local government.
“It’s a ‘very controversial’ step, he said, ‘because it goes to the heart of a territory’s autonomy and democracy.”
“Many other jurisdictions that have liberalized their cannabis laws — including Canada, a commonwealth realm in which, like Bermuda, King Charles III is head of state — are in contravention of the U.N. treaties that Britain is worried about, said Damon Barrett, a lecturer at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden
You can read the full article here on the Washington Post’s website.
Independence…..
WaPo should stay out of this as it is a Bill that is not supported by the majority. It goes way too far and needs to be redrafted to make it legal. Even Jamaica hasn’t tried to pass such a Bill. The AG should concentrate on simpler steps first. To help “black islanders” expunge all criminal convictions for mere possession. The current “amnesty” of less than 7 grams doesn’t work apparently because the Government does not keep accurate records of the amount, so just clear the books. A simple yet far reaching act, so why not just do it? Too much talk, wanting to have a fight with the UK etc. Pathetic.
The UK continues to wield its sword of colonialism over its’s territories, not allowing them nor their people to flourish fully.
“The idea was to bring Bermuda’s drug laws into the 21st century. The cannabis laws in Britain’s oldest overseas territory harmed Black islanders disproportionately, Attorney General Kathy Lynn Simmons said”
It sounds like our PLP Government has gone to the Washington Post for an article trying to shame the British Government into assenting to the Bill in violation of our treaty obligations.
What no-one seems to recognize is that the Bermuda Government knew before they drafted the bill that it was in Breach of an international agreement. They knew that the UK would reject that bill. This is nothing but an excuse to bring up independence!!
Wonder who handed this to the Post?