Daily Archives: 02/05/2023

GUYANA: Decriminalisation of marijuana is necessary – By Akola Thompson

Marijuana plant

By February 3, 2023

In 2021, the Guyana parliament approved an amendment to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Bill, resulting in the removal of custodial sentences for persons in possession of 30 grammes or less of cannabis. While this was a good first step, it falls woefully short of the legislative changes that are needed to correct the social harm that criminalization has wreaked on communities for decades.

Attorney General, Anil Nandlall in speaking on the bill stated that decriminalisation was never the aim, and to that, I ask, why not? If it is one thing Guyanese politicians love it’s extensive consultations. This is not to say that consultations are not necessary, they are an incredibly important part of democratic processes. However, there has been the tendency to utilise this as a way of not making firm decisions on divisive legislation such as marijuana decriminalisation, removal of the buggery laws etc.        Continue reading

GUYANA: Economic Forecasts -“Rice is done with. It can’t pay.” – Commentary

 By February 4, 2023

For example in his 2022 budget speech, Minister Singh projected that the sugar sector would “grow by 11.8 percent, as GuySuCo will begin to recover from the onslaught of the 2021 floods, with the aim of producing almost 65,000 tonnes of sugar. Similarly, the rice growing subsector is forecasted to expand by 25.1 percent in 2022.”

What actually happened? Sugar declined by 18.9% to 47,000 tonnes while rice was estimated to have grown by 8.1% (although the use of the word estimated suggests some uncertainty over that figure).          Continue reading

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