Feb 13 - ERG And Stay Clean Will Bring Experts To Gibraltar To Add Voice To Cannabis Debate
The Equality Rights Group have committed to bringing UK drug experts to Gibraltar to add their voice to the cannabis debate.
“The Equality Rights Group strongly welcomes the increasing activism of individuals and Civil Society generally that we are seeing lately, something which forms part of our Gibraltarian legacy and which we have specifically worked hard to foster for many years, and will continue to spur. They can depend on our fullest support as we encourage citizens to speak up and speak out to those in power,” Chairman Felix Alvarez commented in a recent statement to the press regarding increasing movement on the group’s proposals for drugs reform in Gibraltar, adding that GBC and all media professionals must be congratulated for the important part they play in engaging and informing us all.
Mr Alvarez added: “There are a number of issues that indicate that Gibraltar is starting to lose patience, however. Prominent amongst these is that people need help today on the important questions surrounding psychoactive substances in our Society! Since 2016 ‘Connected Health’ has been explicitly and publicly calling for the legalisation of medicinal cannabis, and we warmly embrace the indisputable public endorsement of this view, and the recent political will in favour of change in this direction. People with a multitude of medical ailments need answers, they do not deserve to be kept in pain when there are solutions, and those answers are needed sooner rather than later from those with responsibility for drugs policy in Gibraltar.
“But Organised Crime cannot be allowed to continue being Gibraltar’s de facto drug Regulators.
“Excellent as it is to see medicinal cannabis being supported by an overwhelming majority of GBC Poll participants recently, it is by no means the whole picture. It falls short. There are still many others in our community that, in one way or another, are being harmed by a system which punishes rather than supports. We will continue to insist: a regulatory system customized to Gibraltar’s needs must still be instituted. Government and the GHA must take control away from the criminals. It is nothing less than wrong and immoral to look the other way on this. To participate in merely partial measures which help one sector, whilst choosing to look away from others is unkind and morally incoherent.
“Whilst highlighted in the joint September 2016 Report to Government by ERG and 'Stay Clean', public understanding on one item in particular has now emerged to the fore: Gibraltar needs expert information (regrettably, some ‘expertise’ quoted in the TV debate was many years out of date). And while calm, serious evidence and study are necessary, none of this can be a substitute for action now, nor an excuse for interminable committees and vague statements while very real, ordinary people in our Community are suffering.
“It is therefore of vital importance that leading experts on the question of cannabis and drugs generally be brought to Gibraltar. In response to our commitment to responsible and ethical campaigning at the service of this Community, then, Equality Rights Group will itself arrange to bring such expertise to Gibraltar. This does not preclude any other interested parties doing likewise.
“We trust that Government’s Inter-Ministerial Committee will be open to taking evidence from qualified and credible, recognised experts of the highest calibre whenever we come to an arrangement for their visit to Gibraltar. Indeed, we are more than willing to work with Government on a convenient date and are happy to cooperate with the Committee to this end. Arrangements will also be made for media and public to have access to expert and highly qualified speakers on questions of law enforcement, appropriate and sophisticated statistical design and research (beyond simple surveys) by qualified academics, in addition to medical and regulatory issues. It's important that citizens, whatever their views, be free to inform themselves.”
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