Does Jersey want to be known as 'Weed Island' – famed for its adult cannabis use as well as its beaches, banks and trust companies – a doctor who prescribes the drug for medicinal purposes has asked.
Dr Kirstie Ross, an A&E doctor who also runs Carpathia Clinic, believes Jersey needs to get its rules around medicinal cannabis right before it contemplated relaxing its laws and policies around the adult-se of the drug. Her cautionary words were in response to a proposition – recently lodged by Health Minister Tom Binet – which could start the Assembly on a journey to legalising personal quantities of cannabis for adult-use.
'Future Approach to Personal Cannabis Use in Jersey' – which the Council of Ministers pledged to draft in June 2024 after a backbench proposal to decriminalise cannabis was narrowly defeated – broadly sets out three options which States Members can vote on.
They are, in essence: decriminalise cannabis for adult / personal use; legalise it; and/or introduce a trial of government-controlled production and sale of cannabis for adult-use. However, it is not just a simple case of choosing A, B or C because, as the proposition makes clear, a combination of options can be adopted, as well as 'no change'.
Read more at Jersey Evening Post
