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Uki Atkinson, Research Analyst at the NCDA
The National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) has again chastised the Government over the non-enforcement of laws that would reduce the use of illegal substances.
Of concern to the NCDA is the failure of the authorities to begin using ticket books to enforce ganja laws.
Possession of up to two ounces of ganja is no longer an arrestable offence.
A person caught smoking ganja in public can be given a $500 ticket.
Speaking Thursday on TVJ's Smile Jamaica programme, Uki Atkinson, Research Analyst at the NCDA, said the work of the organisation is being made more difficult.
"The laws that we have in place, enforcement is a problem. So nobody is asking for an ID if a young person comes up and says I want to buy a Guinness of a bottle of rum. That's not widely enforced, so that's one of the barriers that we have found to effective prevention and interventions that we're trying to do," she said.
Ms Atkinson noted that while the NCDA understands the Government's decision to decriminalise small amounts of ganja, it is disappointed that no measure was put in place to protect the vulnerable.
"So there is a reason for decriminalisation which has been articulated to declog the justice system and so on. Those things we understand. But certainly, things would need to be put in place to ensure that the youth, persons with mental illness and other groups that are vulnerable - that measures are there to be able to protect them and intervene," she asserted.
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