Premier changes message on bar rule breaches

| 29/06/2020 | 88 Comments
Cayman News Service
Premier Alden McLaughlin at Friday’s press briefing

(CNS): Just a few days after Premier Alden McLaughlin said that there was no specific plan in place for police to enforce social distancing in bars, on Friday he issued a warning that checks are now in place and licences are at risk if rules on social distancing over COVID-19 are not followed. McLaughlin said that the spikes in the US, especially Texas, were driven by people congregating in bars.

On Tuesday the premier said that people had to take responsibility for what they were doing and dismissed the idea of police going into bars and restaurants to measure how far apart people were.

But on Friday the premier delivered a different message, which came from the Liquor Licensing Board (LLB). He said that there had been a lack of compliance to the rules and breaches of licensing conditions since bars and restaurants had reopened.

“There have been numerous reports and complaints, in particular about the local bars and several other ‘hot spots’ on the Seven Mile Beach,” McLaughlin said. “It would seem that these establishments are under the impression that Curfew Time approval exempted them from adhering to all laws, including the Public Health Law.”

He said the situation not only creates a public health risk but also a safety risk for both police officers and the DCI trade officers, who would now be carrying out routine checks to identify breaches.

Those not following the rules will be reported to the LLB, which has said that all licence holders must continue to comply with the Liquor Licensing Law and Music and Dancing (Control) Law, as well as the Public Health Law, and warned that bar and restaurant owners should be vigilant over the spread of the virus.

“I implore you to act responsibly to continue to socially distance, wear a mask or cloth face covering in public and maintain respiratory protocols,” the premier added.

See the relevant press briefings on CIGTV below. The first (left) from Tuesday, 23 June, is set to start where the premier said there would be no checks. The second (right) is set to start where he explains why there would now be checks.


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Category: Business, Food and Drink, Health, Medical Health

Comments (88)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Does anyone know or realize the amount of public funds the importation of alchohol is responsible for? You really think the government was going to snuff out a great source of income in hard economic times by keeping liquor stores closed? We already had our boarders shut. Use the logical part of your brain… if available.

  2. Anonymous says:

    New data on the Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome in 186 kids.
    Ave age: 8.3 years
    Positive for #COVID19: 70% by PCR or serology
    ICU care: 80%
    Death: 2%

    https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2021680?query=featured_home&fbclid=IwAR2FVjLLt_QaYdhntpaJIPBE7kVoDzRtJLlfaWG-4rBUbdNJzhtvnS1RhvU

  3. Anonymous says:

    The social distancing discussed in Ministry of Education policy will take too much time from teaching and learning to monitor, particularly in primary schools. If “love is in the air” (COVID-19), close schools. Otherwise, we need to relax for the mental wellbeing of all.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    The Lodge is legitimate as well. Keep in mind.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    It’s all irrelevant anyway because there are no COVID-19 symptoms in the Cayman Islands. Can we all move on please?

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  6. CayForYa says:

    Liquor stores and bars opened… yet for soooo long he had CHURCHES closed as non-essential.

    I personally didn’t like that. Churches could have been opened and attend to the spiritual and psychological needs of the community.

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    • Anonymous says:

      A church is a building. If you have a spiritual or psychological connection with God and then you should have no problems worshiping him in your home.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Agreed and the church people need to stop being hypocrites and be Real Christians from the heart

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      • Anonymous says:

        The Premier and collective Cabinet do not have the moral courage to enforce the monitoring of bars. And our two UK reps (Governor and Commissioner of Police) sit on the sideline and say nothing.

        No pressing need for bars to be open, since people have the option of going to liquor stores.
        So a bar is a building just like Church and you should have no problems drinking in your home.

        Signed,

        Same Theory Right?

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        • Anonymous says:

          Maybe if churches were open-air, then it would be the same theory. However, bars can only serve patrons outside.

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        • Annon says:

          Fact. The Commissioner of Police serves the Cayman Islands people not the UK and as an individual he is not from the UK at all.

        • Anonymous says:

          Bars sell alcohol which is a pretty harmful drug.

          Churches on the other hand offer religion, which is the single most harmful, damaging thing in the history of human society.

          Way more people get killed every year over religion then from alcohol.

          Conclusion: LEGALIZATION NOW!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Zoom your cult

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      • Anonymous says:

        Majority of them worship somebody else other than Jesus and thats a fact I don’t need to explain and they are a lot of hypocrites

        • Anonymous says:

          I get it @9.42.
          My neighbour worships the blonde across the street and regularly sneaks over for some hallejulahs. He’s been loving working from home whilst his wife continues at the office.He’s praying COVID never ends.

      • Elvis says:

        Keep a close eye on USA it’s raging again there, not that it actually ever stopped but slowly closing down again. This thing hasn’t reached here yet I keep saying it I’m sorry but it just hasn’t.

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      • Anonymous says:

        way less donations via zoom though….

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      • Anonymous says:

        Ban the cults.

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    • BeaumontZodecloun says:

      Your church is not closed, just the building. We all have to rise high in these difficult times to reach and share fellowship in new ways. This is living history, and we are making it.

      Peace

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    • Anonymous says:

      Maybe if your god was so great then he wouldn’t allow this pandemic to happen in the first place.

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      • Anonymous says:

        If there was a god it would be either all powerful or all good.
        Both are not possible since the world looks like it does.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Yep. But the Bible describes God as omnipotent and omnibenevolent when he obviously isn’t both. Therefore, the Abrahamic God does not exist.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    It is a legitimate question isnt it?

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  8. Anonymous says:

    You would have to be a moron to think that you can open bars and expect intoxicated people to follow the rules on social distancing.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Sad day in Cayman when bars are considered essential!, if some cannot do without it then they should buy in bulk and drink from home.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I thought we were past businesses having to be “essential” to open.

      • Anonymous says:

        The bars are not considered essential, that’s why they’ve only recently opened. We’re way past only allowing essential businesses to open

  9. Anonymous says:

    Do these rules apply to any bar that may be partly owned by the honorable speaker? Sure seemed overcrowded on the weekend.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Perhaps we should just open our eyes all the way and accept the glaring obvious: that there aren’t any restaurants or bars in the Cayman Islands (or anywhere else) equipped to seat tables of non-household guests 6 ft apart, or sterilize things properly. It’s just not mathematically possible at a 4×6″ picnic table, or with a half squirt of windex into a dirty rag. To comply we would need long medieval banquet tables serving just 4 meal covers a night. Add booze to that, and compliance vanishes into the theoretical. Governments just need to decide if things are fully open or closed, warts and all. The squinting half-compliant gestures are irritating for everyone, and near-impossible to fairly enforce, since nobody is in compliance!

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  11. Say it like it is says:

    Well if we have a mighty second wave, one thing we can be sure of, our indispensable liquor stores will remain open.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The Liquor Stores were never a problem. They followed the rules.

      It’s the bars that have decided they can do whatever they want..

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  12. Anonymous says:

    Why would anyone think these rules were more enforceable than any other ignored laws in Cayman. Laws are merely suggestions here.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    The Freudian slip in the headline indicates exactly where the problem lies.

    CNS: Fixed now. Thanks! For those confused, the headline originally said ‘beaches’.

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  14. Anonymous says:

    Does the 25 person gathering apply to the lodge as well?

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  15. Anonymous says:

    RE: wrong antibody testing

    I have written about this already here, that IgA should be tested because of distinct features of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgA response in COVID-19 patients.

    I sent this information to Compass awhile ago, they ignored it and went ahead explaining “How the new antibody [WRONG] tests work”. They write about 2 types of antibodies, when there are 4.

    Humoral immune response to SARS-CoV-2 showed an early response of IgA, instead of IgM, in COVID-19 patients.
    https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2020/05/07/13993003.01526-2020

    Researchers from France and the U.S. demonstrated how severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection could induce an early and vigorous virus-specific IgA response that paves the way for the production of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies, with even better neutralizing properties.
    https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200614/Early-neutralizing-response-to-SARS-CoV-2-dominated-by-IgA-antibodies.aspx

    Being one or two steps behind the lates developments in C19 research is not good.

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  16. Anonymous says:

    Cayman has been lucky so far. Don’t press your luck. Crack down on rules not followed. People may not like it, but it may save a lot of lives.

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  17. Anonymous says:

    Just call off your henchmen! We’ll be just fine!

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    • Hubert says:

      Just look at the situation today and the past month with bars in Miami, Houston and Phoenix. You have your answer there with thousands of coronavirus cases overwhelming the hospitals there today.

      Good move Premier. 👍 👍 👍

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      • Anon says:

        You’re comparing a tiny, remote island nation with near perfect restriction on incoming new personnel to the island with a city of millions in a landlocked section of one of the most populous and “freedom loving” places on the planet?

        How, pray tell, will a virus that has an incubation period of 2-3 weeks, in a small population with almost ZERO symptomatic cases, “surge” from our interaction at bars?

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        • Anonymous says:

          Because viruses can change. If you really need to drink go call AA or buy in bulk and drink from home. Don’t take a chance on someone else’s life.

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        • Anonymous says:

          I’m glad your “freedom-loving” was in quotation marks.

          Freedom-loving has a hollow ring if you’re black in any of those cities. It only really applies to the big fat entitled white guys who carry assault rifles and get their news off bumper stickers.

          Freedom my ass.

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          • Anonymous says:

            Can you name a single freedom blacks don’t have in any city in the US? I’ll tell you one, freedom from getting gunned down by other blacks which is totally out of control. In fact, if blacks in the US would simply limit their rate of killing in line with their population (13%), the entire US murder rate would drop by 40%. Pretty staggering. Three blacks kids (two toddlers) were gunned down in Chicago just last weekend by stray bullets. But I guess their lives don’t matter.
            Stay woke moron.

            CNS: Please read this article to understand why this is a racist argument: Stop using ‘black-on-black’ crime to deflect away from police brutality

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            • Anonymous says:

              What a condescending and patronizing article you linked to CNS. There is a problem of racism in the US and evidently here in the forum at CNS as well. The racism and soft bigotry of low expectations.

              Go ahead and look at the Uniform Crime Report statistics and explain to young blacks that their odds of falling victim to police brutality do not increase even when their community commits crime at 500% the rate relative to their demographic. In other words, the entire BLM police brutality argument is based on pure fiction. Is anyone making the argument that black lives don’t matter? Whites are actually killed twice as often by cops. So far in 2020 172 white people were shot dead by the police and 88 blacks. The argument BLM uses is that whites represent 60% of the population and blacks only represent 13% of the population and thus are more than twice as likely to be killed by the police. True statement if considered alone, but it totally ignores the crime rate in the black community which is up to 500% higher than all other demographics. Your patronizing article excuses blacks because again they are over represented in poverty statistics, but there are far more whites living below the poverty line than blacks in absolute numbers. That being the case poverty does not explain why blacks commit more murders than whites in absolute numbers. And murder is only 1 example, blacks are vastly over represented in violent crime statistics. For example, in the most recent statistics 2018 UCR table 43A, there were 8957 arrests made for the crime of murder. 3953 whites and 4778 blacks. Remember, whites make up 60% of the population and blacks only 13% and there are more poor white people than black people. Are we to believe that blacks are inherently more violent given the statistical facts? Now that’s racist. No, what blacks are victims of is systemic liberalism. Liberals have been using blacks and feeding them a steady diet of lies for 40 years and it’s about time the truth came out.

              In summary,whites are victims of police brutality more than blacks, whites are killed by police more than blacks in absolute numbers. Whites have more poor people than blacks in absolute numbers. Blacks are committing crimes at extremely high rates and in some categories such as murder in absolute numbers even though they only represent 13% of the population.
              It doesn’t take a person with a doctorate in statistics to see that putting yourself in law enforcement engagements at massively higher rates is going to increase your rate of abuse by criminal cops accordingly.
              The entire BLM narrative is based on a lie.

              There are more and more blacks in the US rejecting victim status, but their voices are silenced by most media in preference to movie stars and pro athletes. You won’t often hear from the Ben Carsons, Thomas Sowells or Tim Scotts of the black community. Instead it’s people like Al (the race hustler) Sharpton that gets the attention.

              CNS: So, in summary, black people in the US are not victims of racism but victims of liberals telling them that they are victims of racism. That is your argument?

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              • Anonymous says:

                Your (CNS) counter argument is, it’s not necessary to give examples of actual racism and ignore actual statistics that nobody wants to talk about.

                Liberals have been running the inner city schools for decades and the black kids can’t read or do math at level. Take Washington DC for example. They spend nearly 40K per student and they can’t read. Teacher’s unions don’t want school choice. There’s your systemic liberalism. Some may even call it racism.

                CNS: You don’t say where you get your information. I had a look to see if I could and found this form the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (see here): “Unfortunately, a zip code can still be a determining factor in the quality of a student’s public education in DC. While DC Public Schools (DCPS) operates under rules intended to guarantee that all schools receive adequate staffing and added funds to serve students who face barriers and challenges, the reality of DCPS school allocations is far different—and worse. This is evident in the current school year, with 15 of the 19 DCPS schools that faced significant budget cuts located in Wards 7 and 8, where poverty is concentrated and the population is primarily Black.”

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                • Anonymous says:

                  You are really stretching here. Budgets were actually increased across the board in 2020 but the claim is that it did not keep up with inflation. Further, enrollment in the schools with decreased increases (per student) was down because parents are wisely, on their own, taking their kids out of failing schools and putting them in charter schools. Comparing DC schools nationally they were ranked 2nd in spending per student and 49th in performance when compared to 50 states. Washington DC and it’s school boards have been run by progressive liberals for decades as have most urban inner city schools. School choice, which would help disadvantaged black students get a better education has been roundly rejected by democrats (liberals) for many years. They would rather receive campaign dollars from teacher’s unions than actually have quality schools for minority students.

              • Anonymous says:

                It’s really hard to read Anonymous 9:43 without feeling a little sick. His/her arguments are just a hop skip and a jump from blacks are better off being slaves because they only do what they are told. Young black men are not afraid of the police because they feel the brutality every day but because they are listening to liberals. They are three times more likely to be killed by police but that’s their own fault. The crime is higher in black areas not because of generational poverty systematically imposed by racists policy but because what? Is that liberals’ fault too. You are disgusting. I need a shower.

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                • Anonymous says:

                  And you think that blacks slaughtering each other at unspeakable rates is something that can easily be explained by lack of money, when in fact there are more white poor people in the US.
                  I mean, what do expect from black people?

                  Sad that you think so little of black people.

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                  • Anonymous says:

                    DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAN SYSTEMIC RACISIM???

                    Please everyone, this person is a white troll.

                    • Anonymous says:

                      Sorry, but all caps does not erase facts and stats. Systemic racism is a myth. Individual racism, yes, systemic racism, no.

                      Stop with your condescending pandering. If anything you are part of the problem.

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                • Anonymous says:

                  The fact that you need a shower is probably the only thing I would agree with. I guess it’s easier to ignore statistics than deal with them honestly. Shorter what you are saying, Black people kill other blacks because they don’t have any choice due to poverty. Now that is disgusting.

                  Some US statistics to consider:

                  Whites living at or below poverty: 19.8 million.

                  Blacks living at or below poverty: 8.6 million
                  https://www.povertyusa.org/facts

                  Murders committed by whites in 2018 4884 (60% population)
                  Murders committed by blacks in 2018
                  6318 (13% population)
                  https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-3.xls

                  Explain again how poverty impacts the above statistics?

                  Liberalism has destroyed the American black family and encouraged destructive behavior for 40 years. It’s no surprise there a crime problem in the US black community, they’ve been lied to by the very people claiming to help them. They’ve been told, by liberals running their cities that they are not accountable because they are black and oppressed. There’s your systemic racism. That’s disgusting and sad and many blacks are waking up to it.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Why after this long do you still not “get it” are you stubborn or stupid? I’m giving you the benefit of doubt that you’re just stubborn. Look beyond yourself!

        • Anonymous says:

          Simple 12:28. Asymptomatic people who do not know they have the coronavirus spread it at bars. Just drink at home and problem solved. Nobody is stopping you from drinking.

      • Anonymous says:

        Notice how these problems are occurring in the US, where local infection rates are significant. News flash – difficult for you to give some one COVID in a bar or anywhere else if you don’t have it. As of Friday, 2,287 negative tests since the last, single positive test. And these are tests on high risk individuals. The Premier just cant seem to get himself off the need for complex and bureaucratic rules governing our existence, not matter how few positive cases we have. I thought the isolate and return to normal living in our bubble theory was meant to be exactly that. Instead he wants to continue to impose controls even without any indication that the relaxations have led to a spike – or in our case any – infections. Continue with the restrictions and then claim its preventing a second wave? Its a bit like the civil service – Joey Hew saying his departments cannot go back to providing services which involve direct contact with the public until its “safe”. Happy to keep getting paid for not providing those services though.

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  18. Sunrise says:

    What do you think was going to happen, especially at the bars!! When you are consuming alcohol, you get impaired; no social distancing, no rules, or anything apply to you then. I don’t see why alcohol is such a big deal. Do we have that many alcoholics on the islands that only the liquor stores were the only ones allowed open as an essential service, when even the smaller convenient stores had to be closed. Alcohol over food, hmm, go figure. I said this all along, if the bars open this is a sure way for the virus to spread!!!

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  19. Anonymous says:

    Well, since the Liquor Board says there are breaches taking place, lets hope those that are making checks consists of their liquor inspectors who have been absent on the bar/nightclub for quite some time. I often wonder what these individuals are getting paid to do. It is not only now that liquor license holders have not been adhering to the law; this has been happening since this board became a joke some years ago.

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  20. One Rule for You ... says:

    And yet the photo of the big new Committee in the Compass shows everyone sitting close together and not a mask in sight. Practice what you preach!

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  21. Anonymous says:

    Good. Roll back the eased restrictions if they don’t comply!

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  22. Anonymous says:

    It’s not just bars. At SMB public beach yesterday people were jammed pack partying in those cabanas. In one particular cabana there were at least 25 drinking and eating, plus all the other people with the same party that were hanging around outside. What’s the point of social distancing in a bar or restaurant when you can go to the beach To have a party with no restrictions. And before anyone jumps on me, the solution is NOT to close the beaches but to enforce the existing law (which, contrary to the assertion of the police, is really not rocket science)

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    • Anonymous says:

      Think about this:

      indoor (bar) vs. outdoor (beach)
      airconditioned room vs. open outdoor space
      artificial light vs. sunlight
      sea air vs.recycled air
      high humidity vs. controlled humidity
      hot temperature vs. room temperature

      Before you jump on me with “there is no scientific evidence”
      – there never will be money to conduct proper studies on how viruses behave in artificial vs. natural environment
      – without evidence a proposition can be assumed to be either true or untrue
      – the absence of confirmatory evidence is mistakenly assumed to prove a proposition is untrue
      – the converse error is one in which it is assumed that the lack of falsifying evidence means a proposition must be true

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      • Anonymous says:

        I don’t think bars are allowed to serve indoors yet. Beach and bar is outdoor so not sure what you are trying to show?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Yours is a good point; although the 1917-21 Spanish Flu wasn’t likely a coronavirus, but a Swine Flu, it was discovered that patients outside and in the sunlight fared much better on average than those out of the sun and fresh air.

        Likely Vitamin D was a major portion of the healing variable, but there is little doubt that fresh air helps. Ask you Mother if you don’t believe me. 😀 😀

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  23. Anonymous says:

    Alcohol, a toxic liquid which causes one to throw up before overdosing and contributes to countless DUI crashes, is an essential product during a Pandemic.

    However god forbid I grow medical cannabis on my land instead of importing the marked up oil from places that have legalized..

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    • Anonymous says:

      Known ganja smokers should be identified so as to warn the law abiding public. Also, such a registry would prevent them from getting into higher levels of Government. A win win!

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      • Anonymous says:

        Burning out your brains with alcohol or ganja is the same except one is legal and the other is not. Both should be illegal.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Everything in moderation, even coffee. Cannabis doesn’t burn out your brain unless smoked during development – at which point no intoxicants should be consumed regardless.

          If you’re trying to imply we should ban intoxicants, you have to include alcohol. But, we tried that already and all that happened was al Pacino became a billionaire off the black market.

          The cannabis business is booming in Cayman, and is beryl lucrative. You can’t find the indoor operations.. Only hear of them.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Getting into? You might want to see how many people would become unemployed, publuc and private, if there was a registry for such. Im not sure I know many people who dont use it anymore and most are better off for it – calmer, less anxiety, less irritability and less rage, sleep better, concentrate better and generally feel better medically!

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