Brac ganja activist arrested for possession
(CNS): A leading voice in the campaign to legalise the medical and recreational use of ganja as well as personal cultivation in the Cayman Islands has been arrested again for possession and consumption. Elvis McKeever (61) was taken into custody last week but has since been bailed after a bust at his Cayman Brac home. Police said they found several containers and packages of suspected ganja.
Last summer McKeever began a petition calling on the government to change the law and decriminalise the cultivation of ganja for medical purposes and permit personal recreational use of the plant.
The use of cannabis oils and tinctures for medical purposes is now legal on prescription, but there has been no further advance on this issue over the last four years, despite mounting support in the community for creating a cannabis sector.
An increasing number of countries around the world have legalised, or at least decriminalised, the recreational consumption of ganja. However, here in Cayman it remains a crime and many people are held back by criminal records based on the use and possession of very small amounts of the drug.
McKeever was first arrested for possession when he was a teenager, which he has said interfered with his ability to get an education and work. He was more recently prosecuted last summer for the cultivation of ganja for his own use.
McKeever believes that, given the waste of police resources prosecuting people for consumption, which could be diverted to more serious crime, the time for change has come. Government, he believes, should take the next step and allow people to grow ganja here and put an end to the smuggling from Jamaica, from where guns are smuggled along with the ganja.
Elvis, please consider running for the Cayman Brac East seat. It is time for new leadership in the district.
I don’t smoke but support your efforts to decriminalize ganja for your own at home personal use. Don’t support it being sold publicly, let us say hypothetically for example at some place like your store in Watering Place.
If you do run for that political seat you will get a lot of votes from people in your district -as I work with a lot who support your efforts.
And note, love the slogan painted on your warehouse.
Keep on keeping on Elvis,
“Legaliiiiiiiiiiiize it”
-Peter Tosh (and us)
Make it a law to get tested for Ganja if you work for the government or run for office. It will be legalized soon after. If we have to follow the law then they should too.
No kidding. Drug test all of the LA!
CNS can you explain why you are allowing commentary on this arrest when there are other cases where commentary is not allowed. XXXX Just want to know .
CNS: Yes, as a rule we close the comment box after someone has been arrested because they might be sub judice. But occasionally there is a secondary issue, in this case the legalising or decriminalising of ganja, which Elvis campaigns for. I have deleted many of the comments and all the ones that are here pertain to that topic and I don’t think will prejudice his case. If anyone thinks otherwise, please flag it.
Cannabis scrambles my mind, therefore I do not use it.
That’s fair. It doesn’t for me but alcohol does, which is why I prefer it over alcohol.
But I’m not about to lobby against alcohol because of my subjective experience.
I want my rights to smoke! What i do behind closed doors is my business!
Agreed…its just a plant. Literally a medicinal plant with unmatched benefits.
As a result of the pandemic and shortfall in Government revenues, the Premier warned that the next administration will have a “tough job”.
Clearly new fiscal policies will be required as well as an expanded revenue base, outside the two “pillars” – finance and tourism.
Wonder if they will have the sense, will and balls to de-criminalize (or even legalize) and regulate the ganja trade to the extent where it could be a viable alternative revenue source for Government. Oops, sorry! I’m awake now. Nope, too many connected “big boys” making millions annually by keeping it illegal!
At nights, lying in my bed, the scent of ganja is filling the air from the house next door. And do I need to say which nationality is the culprit? It is just disgusting. First thing in the morning is the unpleasant scent. It is no wonder there are so many accidents on the roads.
Just saying.
I get you, but tobacco odor is fine then?
Leave the man alone. Police need to use their time better by arresting rapists and child molesters and other nasty people.
Leave Elvis alone. He doesn’t hurt anyone. We will likely look back on this time ten years from now, and wonder why nonaggressive Caymanians were being persecuted. Yes, I understand — under the current law possession is a crime. It seems just a matter of time until we join the majority of the world and decriminalise this victimless “crime”. The government should be growing, quantifying, packaging and marketing it. Remove the criminal element from ganja — a historically sought medicinal plant.
It’s still illegal to run a grow-op. No mystery there. Nobody is wondering why this happened.
And no one is saying he’s right for allegedly breaking the law either or saying you’re wrong.
What people are wondering is why are they allowed to smoke nicotine laced tobacco on government time and property, can get Cannabis prescribed medically, yet can’t grow it themselves?
Cannabis is illegal because it is under a drug schedule that states “high potential for abuse, *no recognized medical value*”. – this is an obvious discrepancy that needs to be addressed.
Thank you RCIPS ganja has destroyed the life of so many.
Yes because the most dangerous part about ganja is getting caught with it.
Anyone who thinks ganja is more harmful than nicotine/tobacco or alcohol is woefully wrong.
Is this the only country in the world to not decriminalize? Cayman needs to get with the times…countries were decriminalizing back in ’88! But really it should be legalized…come on Cayman! All the countries where it is legalized…those people do not want to come here because of it being illegal.
Well we was just force to modernize our rights for LGBT persons. So I think this might not happen anytime soon. Cayman is stuck on saying we are Christian when the same person leave the church and go to the bar visit the other woman or go to visit the married man they cheating with! Sorry Not sorry!! Cayman is not Christian it may have ppl with the belief of Christianity but many are for from it! Sad this small group make the whole island stay decades behind the world. And before you tell me to leave! Am born here and if you want as they say more caymanian am from the brac and lived here my whole life. So save the go-to line.
Don’t generalize all Christians. There are people that are like that but most aren’t. Please stop with the disrespect and hateful remark towards Christians.
I don’t dislike Christians. They are just wrong.
Doing bad things doesn’t determine whether you are Christian or not. All humans are flawed.
It has destroyed too many lives in these islands. R
While I agree with ‘Elvis’ that ganja should be legalized and even grown in Cayman to curb the black market, for now it is NOT legal.
So until it is, you break the law, you pay the price.
Just because I don’t agree with the speed limit on West Bay Road being 25 and I think it should be changed, it doesn’t mean that I don’t deserve a ticket if I decide to drive 40.
Laws are in place. Follow them or not. But if you don’t, you bought every bit of the penalty.
You would have made a great guard in a Nazi concentration camp.
And you Sir are an idiot for equating the support to enforce an existing law to a “great guard in a Nazi concentration camp”.
Nope. Seems like the poster is spitting truth
Why doesn’t Elvis speak to the Governor? I’m sure between him and Alden they can come up with some rule of law.
not to mention how much we would save on the cost of locking people up
No issue at all about the legalisation of ganja (I was a teenager in the 60s!) as long as people using it get their heads around the reality that if they’re indulging it means they can’t drive any kind of motor vehicle, run a boat or use any other machinery safely. They should also avoid alcohol and a whole bunch of common over-the-counter medications. It’s their choice.
No weed NO VOTE!!!. Leave the Man alone, he nah hurting a soul !!! Emancipate yourself from mental slavery !!!!
None but ourselves can free our minds…
FREE ELVIS! Buddy, you are a local hero when it comes to fighting the power. I’m guessing he wasn’t out drunk driving or knifing someone in a car park when caught. Legalize now!
DUI isn’t just about drunk driving – it includes drugs like ganga.
Ganga style?
Duh. As I said… he wasn’t driving high when allegedly caught with pot.
Appropriate name he has.
He needs to learn to obey the laws!
your sarcasm noted.
And so do our politicians and some of the influential, power greedy members of our society. These people should set the example but are like greased pigs when it comes to prosecution.
So its okay to molest children, cheat on your wife, beat your wife, buy vagina for hundreds of dollars in others words,prostitution. This is all okay guys. As long as you attend church every sunday or Saturday you’re good to go….
yep as long as you cheating with or molesting the opposite sex and nah smoking the herb you my friend is in good Graces and heading to the pearly gates .. Keep in the straight and narrow
Man was not created to serve the law.
Can’t remember where I heard that. Someplace that used to be trustworthy.
If wearing striped shirts were illegal I’d break that stupid law too.
Smoking tobacco is fine, can get Cannabis oil prescribed, but can’t grow it ourselves? Something need change.
yeah it was once legal to enslave another human being and suppress Women basic rights like 1) rights to a salary if she worked, only her husband was entitled to her wages 2) no voting rights 3) no rights to divorce :(. Just because it is a law it is right !!!.
We’re losing $25M a month due to the pandemic, according to the gov; so it would be smart to legalize ganja and start an industry out of it here. Do you know how much money we could make? Colorado makes billions a year from their marijuana industry. LEGALIZE IT.
Do you know how much money is already being made in the black market here? 😉 those with the power to legalize don’t want to kill their cash cow.
Buy lbs for $50 USD and flip them for $1000 KYD EASY lol. Can even put down money towards shipments instead of dealing to distance yourself from the risk. The rasta boatmen are expendable.
Not advising you to, just educating. Legalizing would put the herb behind a controlled counter that can be taxed instead of in a dealer’s hand who can sell 5’s to teens and bring guns in the process.
I agree, it would give many Caymanians jobs in agriculture and retail! Why import the medical oil for $90 a tablespoon when we can extract it ourselves?
A common and at first sensibly sounding refute to legalizing is that the black market dealers will only become more established..
As a Caymanian, if I could grow my own I’d never spend another dollar on that crap they smuggle in with the guns. The black market that may persist to avoid sales tax (if we implement it similar to tobacco) would simply be local farmers.
If I had to choose between the two evils, I would rather a local farmer subvert sales tax than a Jamaican from Westmoreland who makes $200 USD/month take a chance and bring 950 lbs on a boat here for $5000 USD.
Let’s be honest, I’ve seen drug busts since the 80s but somehow in 2020 my neighbor still lights one up in his backyard every evening. Not bothering me so we’ve established an understanding, as I love to sit outside with my 345 beer too.
*knods*
Agreed. By the time they harvest, dry, trim, package, smuggle overseas, distribute and sell it, months have passed and the product is prone to degradation.
I’ve been able to buy my draw of Jamaican weed any day I want all my life. My biggest concerns have been how it’s grown, but if I could grow my own I’d be able to choose my own soil, organic fertilizer, etc.
Who am I kidding, my friend has 20 budding plants in his attic right now haahahaaaa. The war on this plant is futile. In genesis it says God gave man every herb bearing seed for their use.
Free up the medical herb