The political party, Alliance For Change (AFC) in Guyana yesterday expressed its “outrage and deep concern” at this week’s sentencing of a man to three years for being in possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, and said it intends to intensify its campaign to remove imprisonment as a form of punishment for the crime.

“The party renews its call to all legislators to move with alacrity in upgrading the laws of Guyana to ensure that custodial sentences for small quantities of marijuana are removed from the books in their entirety,” the party said in a statement following the jailing of 27 year old father and poultry farmer Carl Mangal for being in possession of eight grammes of marijuana.

As part of ratcheting up its campaign for softer penalties, that political party said it would soon begin planning a national symposium to be held in “the near future” to allow all stakeholders and sectors of society to deliberate and exchange views.

AFC Leader, Raphael Trotman told Demerara Waves Online News that his party intends to take to Cabinet a three-year old proposed amendment to the anti-narcotics law to scrap jail terms for small amounts of marijuana for personal consumption.

He said the 2015 Bill would be taken to Cabinet before Parliament goes into recess in August by which time his party would be able to determine its next move.

A CARICOM Commission on Marijuana that visited several member states including Guyana is expected to table its report to Caribbean leaders this year.

Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda are among a small number of Caribbean nations that have lightened penalties for the possession of minuscule quantities of marijuana, popularly called ganja.

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