Is it legal to smoke weed in Jamaica?

What the law says

The Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015 rewrote the ganja rules in the Dangerous Drugs Act. The sections named on this page are those of the Dangerous Drugs Act as it amended them. Under section 7F, a person who has ganja in a total quantity that does not exceed the prescribed amount breaches that section. Section 7F(3) says “the prescribed amount”:

“means two ounces or such other amount as may be specified by the Minister”

What changed is the penalty. Under section 7G of the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015, a breach of section 7F cannot lead to arrest or detention. It brings a fixed penalty of J$500 instead. A police officer with reasonable grounds to believe someone is in breach must give them a written notice, a ticket, offering the chance to pay.

The ticket sets the terms. It must be paid within 30 days, at any Collector of Taxes, meaning a government tax office, under section 7G(3) of the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015. If it is not paid, the person must go to the Petty Sessions Court in the parish where the breach happened. The date must be at least 10 days after the 30 days end.

Not paying is an offence of its own. Under section 7G(8) of the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015, a person who fails to pay without reasonable cause or excuse can be convicted. The penalty is 40 to 360 hours of unpaid work. If the court is not satisfied such work can be arranged and supervised where the person lives, it is a fine of J$2,000. Under section 7G(5), paying before the case is finally decided avoids a conviction.

Young people and dependent users get a referral. Under section 7G(3) and (4) of the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015, a ticket given to someone under 18, or to an adult who seems to the officer to depend on ganja, must also refer them to the National Council on Drug Abuse or another body the Minister names.

The record stays clean. Section 7G(10) of the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015 says a breach of section 7F, or of the smoking rules, does not form part of a person’s criminal record under the Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act. It does not mention the separate offence of failing to pay.

Smoking in public is a breach of its own. Under the First Schedule, which the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015 added, a person breaks the rules by smoking ganja:

“in or within a five metre radius of the entrance, exit, window or ventilation intake of a public place, workplace or public conveyance”

A public conveyance is any transport that carries paying passengers, though not a private vehicle kept out of business use. Under the First Schedule to the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015, public places include bars, restaurants and clubs, and tourist establishments, apart from open areas the management marks out for smoking.

The Schedule also lists places the rule covers, according to the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015. They include government offices, health facilities and pharmacies, educational institutions, sports grounds, bus stops and station waiting areas, areas for children, the balconies of tourist establishments, beaches, parks, outdoor dining areas, outdoor markets and public swimming pools.

Some places fall outside it. Under the First Schedule to the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015, a private home not used for business is not a public place. Neither is a registered place of Rastafarian worship, or a place licensed for smoking ganja for medical or therapeutic reasons.

Smoking at such a home is outside the rule, unless the home is itself a workplace or the smoking is within 5 metres of the entrance, exit, window or ventilation intake of a public place, workplace or public conveyance. A workplace, in the words of the First Schedule to the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015, is any area or place used by persons during their employment, work or contract for services, and includes residences used for commercially-operated childcare activities. Having the ganja is still a breach of section 7F, unless one of the purposes below applies.

What changes the answer

The amount. The ticket rule in section 7G covers only section 7F and the smoking rules. Under section 7C, as the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015 amended it, having more than the section 7F amount is an offence. Its penalties sit in the parts of the Dangerous Drugs Act this page did not read. The Minister can change the 2-ounce amount by an order that Parliament must approve, under section 7F(3).

The purpose. Section 7C(2), as the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015 amended it, exempts ganja held as a sacrament of the Rastafarian faith. It also exempts ganja for medical or therapeutic use that a registered medical practitioner, or an approved health practitioner, has prescribed or recommended in writing, and ganja for scientific research by an accredited tertiary institution or approved by the Scientific Research Council. Section 7F(2) applies the same purposes to small amounts. They cover having ganja, not where it is smoked, so the public smoking rule still applies.

Growing a few plants. Under section 7B(4), added by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015, the rules on growing ganja do not apply to five or fewer plants on any premises. Those plants are treated as grown for medical or therapeutic use, or for gardening. Where several households share one property, each household counts on its own.

Visitors. Under section 7D(10), added by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015, a person not ordinarily resident in Jamaica may buy and have 2 ounces or less at a time without an offence, on two conditions. First, they produce a voluntary declaration they signed themselves, or other satisfactory evidence, that a doctor entitled to practise where they live prescribed or recommended ganja in writing for medical or therapeutic use. Second, they hold a valid permit from the Minister responsible for health. Without both, the same rules apply to them as to anyone else.

Religious events. Under section 7D(8) and (9), added by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015, the Minister responsible for justice may declare an event exempt if Rastafarians promote or sponsor it and it is held mainly to celebrate or observe the faith. At such an event no one faces arrest, prosecution or any other penalty for ganja taken to, held at or smoked at it, within the amounts and conditions in the order.

What this page covers. It is based on the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015 as passed, not on a consolidated text of the Dangerous Drugs Act. Under section 2, the Act comes into force on days the Minister names by notice in the Gazette. Those notices, and any later orders changing the 2-ounce amount, the J$500 and J$2,000 penalties or the places listed, were not checked.