Countries

For the purposes of IDPC regional work, the Caribbean will include the following countries:
Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Aruba, Bonaire, St Eustacia, and Montserrat, Sint Maarten, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guyana Saint Martin, Saint Barts, Puerto Rico (also in the IDPC Latin American region) and the US Virgin Islands of St Thomas, St Croix and St John, the Dominican Republic (also in the IDPC Latin American region).

Regional profile

The Caribbean is a producer and consumer of cannabis (marijuana, ganja). It is by all accounts the most widely used illicit substance, used both recreationally, as a sacrament of the Rastafarian brethren and as a “bush medicine by and traditional healers and old grannies. Jamaica’s own National Commission on Ganja wrote:
“Its criminal status cannot be morally justified, notwithstanding the known ill effects it causes in some people. It contravenes natural justice, seeing that it has been, like other natural substances, a part of the folk culture in Jamaica for decades prior to its criminalisation, a part of recognised medical practice for centuries, and a part of herbal lore for millennia in other parts of the world. Nor was its criminal status first recommended by scientific evidence, in any way remotely resembling the proliferation of research, some of it of questionable value, now being called on to justify its current status. Regarding current policy, the Commission goes on to say that “the criminal status of ganja poses a serious danger to society. By alienating and criminalising hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens, and by making the State in their view an instrument of their oppression rather than their protection, the law and its prosecution create in them disrespect for the rule of law.”

The Caribbean is recognized as a transit point for drugs, primarily cocaine. Cocaine arrives by sea and is offloaded to smaller local vessels along the coasts for onward shipment to Europe and North America. It is increasingly common that with each shipment some percentage of the “goods” stay behind as a payment in kind for the facilitation of the move. As most “facilitators” are not users, the cocaine is “dumped” on the local market at much reduced costs. High grade powder cocaine is mostly converted into crack cocaine with a “crack rock” costing from less then $1 US in Trinidad to $5 US in Saint Thomas.

For the most part other illicit drugs are minimally used and injection drug use is virtually unknown outside of Puerto Rico and to a much lesser extent Dominican Republic. Alcohol remains the substance that causes the major dislocation in society, being inexpensive and available. Laws restricting underage drinking are largely not enforced and alcohol initiation begins with parental encouragement at age 8 -9 years old.

Over criminalisation

It is estimated that 60 – 70 percent of persons incarcerated have been incarcerated do to drug charges or drug motivated crimes. This has lead to extreme overcrowding and pressure to construct new prisons.
With the exception of Jamaica and to a lesser extent Trinidad, alternative sentencing programmes where sanctioned by legislation are woefully under budgeted and under financed.

Alternative Development

The human rights of marijuana growers are regularly abused. Eradication exercises take place and farmer livelihoods are disrupted without any consideration for replacing the illicit cash crop with an alternative. At the same time the last eradication in Saint Vincent not only did the Regional Security System (RSS) eradicate 11 billion USD worth of cannabis but the destroyed over 100 humble farmers dwellings or “shacks”.

Influence of the US on the Drug War mentality

As with the rest of the hemisphere the US has exerted a very strong influence on the drug policy of the Caribbean.  Through either with the stick or the carrot the USA has exported its prohibitionist policies to the Caribbean. Scholarship for training, funding of projects that support only abstinence based treatment, the wholesale export and funding of the DARE programme are examples of the carrot while the stick manifested itself in pressure of national government to reject harm reduction interventions and drug policy reform.  Both the OAS/CICAD and CARICOM have remained under the influence of US prohibitionist hegemony though it is hoped that the new US Administration will promote a policy that is less oppressive and more of a dialogue and a partnership.
 
The IDPC Caribbean representative, the Caribbean Drug and Alcohol Research Institute works toward assisting Caribbean governments to implement a realistic and evidence based Drug Policy and looks to identify opportunities to positively influence the development and review of policies and programmes in the region.