Poll: Recreational cannabis use
(CNS): Medical cannabis became legal in the Cayman Islands when prescribed by a doctor in May 2017. However, recreational use of the drug and growing cannabis plants for personal use remains illegal. Many people are adamant that this should not change, believing that marijuana is not only a ‘gateway’ to harder drugs but also that smoking weed has a detrimental effect on the user, especially over time.
But the fact is that recreational use of cannabis is widespread and some feel that laws against it are a lost cause. There is also a growing belief that it is not only much less harmful than alcohol, which is legal, but it can also be beneficial in many ways, particularly as a stress buster. Many also feel that when young people, particularly young men, are caught and charged with ganja-related crimes, it can have an outsized negative effect on their lives.
In addition, as more and more countries decriminalise cannabis, there is a growing industry cultivating and producing the drug for recreational use, and Cayman could be losing out.
See the two related polls below:
Category: Poll, Polls, Viewpoints & Analysis
If ppl honestly knew how easy it is to get cocaine in cayman they would welcome persons growing their own weed and smoking it at home. Well I forgot a sitting Mla was arrested for supplying cocaine so it’s ok
Keeping it illegal does nothing to prevent consumption. I can get a pound delivered to me like a Let’s Eat order within an hour.
No, legalisation won’t legitimize organized crime, but instead will kill the black market’s cash cow. I’d never buy herb from abroad ever again if I could grow my own medicine.
Or, keep it illegal, and thousands of Caymanians will continue to unintentionally support the smuggling of guns alongside the medical herb.
Cartels do not roll over and surrender with legalisation. It allows them to legally dominate non-taxed illicit market share and launder the proceeds of crime, enshrining them, and their toxic culture of doing business in the legitimate economy. Not a good combo…see Canada.
Reread this:
“I’d never buy herb from abroad ever again if I could grow my own medicine.”
The milk man goes out of business when everyone suddenly has their own cows.
If the profit margins are diminished, they will look for another area to distribute to. Boat trips to cayman for weed would become less frequent. The reason the black market is still dominating in Canada is that the quality of cannabis being offered Legally is poor and way more expensive. Funny how it’s always the ganja boats that are bringing in the guns. I can get cocaine easier than I can get high-quality cannabis. Go to any brunch on Sunday and you will see a lot of teeth grinding
The only way I would be ok for marijuana to be legal is Government sells it. You growing it will only allow you to try more drugs like crack. I just think if you look at the places that allow it, the differences before and after is crime increased. Tobacco products are cheap.
Come on anon, cannabis is not a gateway drug. That’s still a hangover from some of the edgy drug campaigns of the 80s that some of us were exposed to.
And if you do look at the places that allow it such as NL, Colorado etc. you’d actually note there is no correlation between crime and cannabis regulation.
I had cause a few years ago to fly to Denver for business. What I saw there broke my heart. So many people homeless on the streets, mostly younger people. Gangs of youths standing (or lying) around in the streets looking threatening or totally out of it. The smell of weed everywhere.
My hosts told me the sorry tale of how Denver had completely changed since weed became legal. Its been hardest on the young, the 25’s and younger. Now many of them are addicted, can’t hold down a job, just want to lie around smoking. Of course now they don’t have enough money to support their habit, so burglary, muggings etc has sky rocketed. They have used up their last chance with their family and friends, can’t even get a sofa to sleep on now, and find themselves on the streets at which point things spiral out of control.
I urge Cayman not to legalise ganja here. Our youth already struggle to hold down jobs, or find the right purpose in life. Tell them its Ok to smoke weed and that’s what they will do all day. It’s a slippery slope to a huge crime wave.
Yeah, yeah, I know you are going to tell me people who smoke are too chilled to do wrong, but when the money runs out, they are like any addicts and will do what it takes for their next fix.
Yeah, that’s not what Denver is like at all. Quit being a scaremonger.
Denver was worse off before the legalization. Every other city where it is illegal has “many people homeless on the streets.. Gangs around in the streets looking threatening or totally out of it”.
My Aunt lives there and got into the AirBnB business which BOOMED there afterwards. Road work and schools that stalled for years finally resumed due to the new revenue streams.
Smell of ganja everywhere? Seriously? I’m not supposed to smoke in/on my own property, but you’re ok if I walk through town or take paid breaks while puffing on tobacco cigs laced with nicotine?
I’m 29, have a degree in finance, make 5x the minimum wage and grow my own weed to prevent supporting the black market.
You’re woefully mistaken.
Sorry, replied to the wrong person. Meant to direct my comment to 5:42
Lol.
I am amazed that “not being high enough” is seen to be the prevailing central problem Caymanians see in their own lives; or over the fence in their neighbours’ yard; or our society as a whole…if that’s truly the pulse of our society, then maybe we deserve the inadequate adolescent leadership we keep voting in?
Pot and smoking do not factor at all in my life. I would give it two minutes by decriminalizing small possession amounts, and expunging the records of those Caymanians with small “misdemeanor” possession convictions, so their careers aren’t ruined, and they get a reasonable second chance. That’s about it.
I’m more inclined to vote for a principled, sober, adult-thinker we can trust to keep both hands on the wheel, and shine the light in on the catalogues of misbehavior, missed opportunities, and purse-stifling thefts and cronyism. These are the central issues in Cayman, as identified by CFATF. If we don’t address them, we will be blacklisted, and seriously jeopardize the viability of the financial services sector (representing 75% of GDP).
We need grown-ups in charge, not teenagers planning a kegger.
We have children that need a proper education, animal and child abuse, deadbeat fathers and mothers, people dying of cancer right left and center and weed is what we should be voting on. People get your priorities right. SMDH.
Then educate the children on how hypocritical and nonsensical it is to have cannabis labeled a dangerous and illegal drug but, advertise alcohol to every single available soul.
Legalizing Cannabis has netted the state of Colorado over $1 Billion in revenue that is directed towards those same issues such as building schools for education and healthcare.
Millions of dollars could be taken from the black market and transformed into legal revenue streams.
You’re quick to complain that something must be done NOW, but yet offer no valid ways of creating industry/stimulating the economy in this pandemic.
We should be boosting our exports in all ways and appeal to more tourists. I used to fly out to Colorado specifically to buy it legally there and they enjoyed the tourism revenue from me.
Colorado is landlocked high altitude mountain climate and can control and tax better, whereas, Cayman cannot even mobilize a passable traffic department. We would effectively surrender and give a green light to all of the uncontested regional marine economies we are already suffering under and then legitimize the organized gangs/cartels dealing in ganja for cocaine trafficking/laundering, guns, ammo, human trafficking, their kingpin assassins, Venezuela gold/oil, terrorism, importing professional robbers/heisters etc. All of it. Even Jamaica hasn’t legalized weed. Oh yeah, we would also be blacklisted by FATF and our Financial Center capital and expertise would flee to another jurisdiction. No thanks. We need adults who know what our real issues are. An “inability to get high enough” isn’t one of them.
#adulting
We have more important issues such as why is everyone dying of cancer.
While Cannabis doesn’t cure cancer, it has demonstrated properties that inhibit cancer growth and is prescribed to cancer patients to reduce discomfort and issues such as nausea/lack of appetite/pain
We already medically prescribe it. Keeping the raw plant illegal just puts up barriers that Caymanian scientists like myself have to jump over to perform further research.
I’m a born Caymanian with a degree in chemistry and get Cannabis extracts medically prescribed to myself for $115 for a 2 week supply. If I could grow my own, I could extract the same oils cleanly myself.
I don’t need a prescription to go grow tobacco and smoke it if I want, but can’t make my own medicated tea? There have been zero overdoses related to Cannabis.
Imagine, instead of paying to import the medicine and making the black market sector thrive, locals could instead create jobs/businesses around production, processing and retail/export the god given plant.
Sure is a cure for skin cancers, tried the thick sticky oil on mine, after 3 months scabs fell off now they’re gone. Howzat! Oh no just let this news out to Big Pharma so others can take out a mortgage to fix their skin cancers. No thanks.
They are drinking too much alcohol and eating way too much fast foods. Instead they should eat natural foods and grow and consume fruits, greens, vegetables ganja in moderate amounts. Of course the establishment will object as they see their profits collapse, they will lock you up and convict you of something! But it’s inevitable ganja is really harmless. Google how many people have been killed after consuming ganja and then come to your own conclusion.
Any candidate at least brave enough to decriminalize has my wote.
even being willing to discuss it will be a good sign for me
Back of a napkin note on how to legalize:
Personal use:
Grow whatever you want on your own land as you would with mangoes, but must conceal from the public – so indoor growing as is currently happening would be encouraged. Absolutely no sales allowed unless a commercial license is issued.
Commercial sales:
Provide licenses to sell an x amount of product per month. The license fee scales with the amount sold, and will be slightly more expensive per unit as total volume sold increases to give the smaller farmers a competitive edge. The market can be regulated through volume licenses like this. First part of revenue generation.
Product must be given a lot number, and total volume of lot number recorded to enforce sell limits to dispensaries. To sell commercially, you would need a special T&B similar to alcohol and tobacco sales. Legal age same as alcohol.
Everyone wins, and there would be no more reason to smuggle ganja from Jamaica along with guns, coke and illegal immigrants.
I would just add ‘and taxes on sales got to Addiction support’.
Exactly. The USA’s MORE act that will legalize Cannabis federally is very likely be debated in the 117th senate meeting. It includes a 5% tax that is directed to services such as NAU, education and addiction counseling.
If you think keeping ganja illegal stops Caymanians from buying and using it, you’re woefully mistaken. Sorry fren. Might as well regulate it and put it behind a counter like tobacco rather than in a dealer’s hand.
Local juice more expensive than imported but I still prefer to support local industry.
It’s more the police force and customs and boarder are heavily funded and have to show results to justify having and getting more money. Easy targets are cannabis users and show arrests. – cocaine is more readily available on island or at least the same level as cannabis but you don’t see many of those lawyers getting arrested or publicly because it hard work to convict people with money.
Either legalise weed or ban alcohol
Great idea. Let’s ban both of them!
Why? Ban them both!
“After tending to my cannabis trees in the spare bedroom, I put a teapot on with some buds from my last harvest. A dash of butter activates the THC/CBD/medicine orally. I pour a rather large cup of tea to cure a stressful day, and head outside in my front yard to enjoy my quiet rocking chair.
A few sips in, and the peace is disturbed. 4 police units just flew by, sirens and lights. For a second, I became paranoid of being caught with tea. Ridiculous. To see where they went, I peeked around the corner, and notice they’ve pulled into the bar right down the road.
Local media would later report the death of a young Caymanian man in his 20s who had been drinking legal alcohol, and got into a fight with another drunk clubber who pulled a knife.
I take another sip of my ganja tea, and wonder why I’m the criminal for relaxing in my yard with a medically prescribed plant, but yet violent alcohol culture is not only legal, but sponsored by local businesses.”
Wow. This was actually a beautiful read lol. It describes a feeling I get often in very secluded areas of Cayman while enjoying nature and a spliff, and reflecting back to my tobacco breaks at work.
“Why.. no, how can this be illegal?
Because government doesn’t care what drugs you use they only care about who you buy it from.
Are you my dealer? He grows in a bedroom that his adult son moved out of. Keeps the lights on and food on the table by selling weed. The market prices are ridiculous though.
Imagine paying $25 for a cigarette worth of tobacco. That’s how lucrative black market weed is here. If we legalized imagine the revenue potential.. Perhaps those with the power to legalize have stakes in the black market??
This just goes to show keeping weed illegal does nothing but send more of our people to jail and make the drug lords who bring guns in even richer. Every refutation always seems to have a double standard for allowing alcohol and tobacco.
Thousands of Caymanians continue to consume high quality Cannabis either grown indoors locally which can’t be detected, prescribed legally, or somehow smuggled in from the USA/Canada. You can even get black market extracts now. When the corrupted CBC officers aren’t letting anything by for a cut of the pie, the coast guard is catching the one or two decoy boats, but another two have already unloaded 1000 lbs of Jamaican weed each and left.
This sort of weight isn’t transported for a handful of people either. Vote accordingly, Cayman. End the war on this medically prescribed plant, and take power away from the bad guys.
Cayman doesn’t import a lot of mangoes. Why? We grow our own and even make local businesses out of the crop.
Don’t forget supporters of violence against women who in turn support drink till you fall on your face, drink till you crash, drink till you kill someone. They go to church and feel their drinking and violence are forgiven. Only to go to the bar again, repeat and never or vaguely recall.
The answer “I don’t recall” is an all too common defence with alcohol intoxicated violent people. Cannabis users who’s ranks boast many upstanding and very intelligent people are terrorised and victimised for using in their own home, where commonly the only thing they can’t recall is where they last hid their stash.
No Weed For Me?
No Wote For You!
Thank CNS