Marijuana legalization, high cost of regional travel on agenda for CARICOM Heads meeting

CARICOM Heads at the Thirty-Eighth Regular Meeting last year (Photo via JIS)

The decriminalization of marijuana and the lowering of the cost of intra-regional travel are among matters to be discussed at the upcoming CARICOM heads of government meeting in Jamaica.

Dominica will form part of that meeting.

CARICOM Secretary-General Irwin La Rocque who was speaking at a pre-meeting press conference on Monday afternoon said making marijuana legal for commercial enterprise will be the main focus.

At the meeting, the Heads of Government will receive and discuss the final report on the CARICOM Commission on Marijuana.

“The report on the marijuana commission will be presented to the leaders. They are recommending the decriminalization of the herb. They are recommending that legislation be put in place for the research of medicinal use of marijuana,” LaRocque said.

The Secretary-General did not give any strong indication that binding action would actually be taken by CARICOM heads to reduce the taxes that make flying so costly in the region.

He referred to the Caribbean Community Multilateral Air Services Agreement which some countries have signed.

The agreement expands the ability for airlines owned by CARICOM nationals to provide air services throughout the region.

It speaks of no restriction on routes, capacity or traffic rights and is meant to facilitate increased intra-regional travel but it is not specifically meant to address the high cost of travel due to the taxes government’s levy on airlines and travelers.

The upcoming Caricom meeting is the Thirty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government.

It will take place in Jamaica from July 4th to July 6th.

The Secretary-General also said that more will be done to make the activities of CARICOM known to citizens of the grouping.

The decisions of the Heads of the government will be published at the end of the meeting.

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

14 Comments

  1. Affa
    July 5, 2018

    They simply need to legalize marijuana herb. Open it for investment and recreational use. None of that one tree – four tree per family stupidity. You have to ask each of those black guys doing the U.S such favor, how many of their people are languishing in their jails and prisons at our own expense simply for some herb. They are only doing the United States a favor while the U.S has finally come to their senses and legalizing it all over.

  2. %
    July 4, 2018

    A waste of time grouping.What a shame .How long has this marijuana discussion been going on and Skerrit has been moo moo in the dissemination of information to us?What a waste of time leader.
    Skerrit must go
    Skerrit must go
    Skerrit must go now

  3. selling passports?
    July 4, 2018

    CARICOM is yet to take a stand on the troubling issue of the selling of CARICOM PASSPORTS, ordinary and DIPLOMATIC to those who have $$$$$$$$. In many instances, lack of accountability, transparency, A FEW making MILLIONS, while for many is more and more pressure. It’s like a living HELL. CARICOM/Dominica (ours),passports have ended up in the hands of all kinds of international crooks and criminals. CARICOM Moo-Moo on something that should be of increasing interest to the Org.

    Selling Passports cannot be a sustainable economic venture.. CARICOM/LEADERS have agreed to sell our souls, our DIGNITY to all and sundry for $$$$$$$$$$$$ for a few agents and their ilk. A NEW KIND OF SLAVERY.

    What has been the PLAN/STRATEGY as regards, Economic Independence,, Good governance, Free and FAIR elections for the post-colonial islands/countries in the Caribbean. Poverty, unemployment, corruption secret deals, on the rise..

  4. NKRUMAH KWAME
    July 4, 2018

    There is a reggae song that has words that go something like this:
    they always say what they never do, and the words they speak are never true. What are we waiting for to do what is best for US??

  5. July 3, 2018

    These Colonial educated mis-leaders of former slave colonies, are just NATTERERS. Unless given the go ahead by their Masters in the north, their policies of keeping the small island states subjugated will remain in place. It is legal for the Whiteman to use Marijuana the world over, his Marijuana industries is in full flow, creating jobs for people who looks like him, while the mis-leaders evolving from Slavery, continue to incarcerate and destroy the lives of young BLACKS. With the exception of maybe one leader in the group, the rest are mostly HOUSE SLAVES.

  6. Kean Black
    July 3, 2018

    Dominica , here is an opportunity to lead. Be the first to lower our taxes by 50%.
    We will become the destination for intra caribbean travel.

    This is an opportunity for us to lead and strengthen our tourism product.

    Lets be the first at something, lets lead this charge Da Govt. instead of following on every policy for once Dominica should lead.

    Guaranteed with lower taxes would increase air arrivals which translates to more taxes revenues even with lower unit taxation. Volume is our solution!

    • Chester
      July 4, 2018

      That’s thinking outside the box, we don’t get paid to do such. Lol

  7. zandoli
    July 3, 2018

    Another talkfest. They all know what needs to be done. They get together, talk for 3 days and then nothing happens.

    • Uncle
      July 3, 2018

      Every six months is like that. five star hotels, fancy food and drink, air travel and daily allowance for their out of pocket expenses but ordinary people living in public toilet in New Town, like I just hear Joshua Francis, M.P. for Roseau South saying on Q95fm. Please tell that is not true in our Dominica ruled by a man who can not even bother to show up in the House of Parliament when his government calls for a rare assembly. I’m feeling so embarrass,, ashamed and powerless right now to be a Dominican.

      • Gill
        July 4, 2018

        5 Star hotel? Lol. When they were in Dominica a couple years back they stayed at fort yong, when they were in Guyana they stayed at a crappy hotel, when they were in st lucia they stayed at a crappy hotel. I sure they don’t like the travel, sitting in an old liat plane and not even getting to explore the countries they visit

    • One of a kind
      July 3, 2018

      They’re all idiots, what do you expect

      • Me
        July 4, 2018

        And who keep electing them? Could it be they are the smart ones and the voters the idiots?

  8. Shaka Zulu
    July 3, 2018

    40 plus years of BS. Look a waste of time organization. This is an organization that was meant to integrate the region but all they seem to do is meet once a year have fine dinning and pose for pics and talk. Caribbean leaders are really followers. Soo long marijuana around we should have been leaders on research. Our PM want to buil climate resillient country caricom is yet to place imput. We are in hurricane season so lessons from Dominica should be already implemented in high risk caricom territories. Yesterday was Dominica tomorrow is another island and those idiots will meet and dine and nothing gets done. Caricom needs to open its fishing limits to all caricom islands integrate production and manufacturing capabilities. Why cannt Dominica ship dasheen to trinidad for processing and packaging, why dont we have hotell chains owned and ran by Caricom nationals with packages to visit islands by boat or liat without all the customs hassle. That will increase interisland tourism

    • Shaka Zulu
      July 3, 2018

      and trade. I think the marijuana wave should teach us we need to lead with commonsense, scientific reasoning and education. The Caribbean region has over 40 million people a resource yet to be tapped and factored in our development. If liat could have 2 million of this population travelling interisland in a year they would have no problem. Why cant a teacheer from the caricom invest through shares in a hotel in the region owned by caricom nationals. Why does sandals and hilton make money on our own sun sea and sand while we at the window begging. Caricom leaders need to get thier heads out of thier as…….es and realize they have to sacrifice some things for the betterment of the region. I think this organization is grounded on an outdated chatter and needs an overhaul. We need real actions and measured results. Europe china and large coutries fully integrated yet 40 years later this blokes seperated by a few miles of water still tryi g make up thier minds. I am fed up.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available