Int'l Affairs: The "Weed Ticket" How Clinton and Trump line up on cannabis

By the time you read this, the 2 US Presidential candidates will have completed the second, and arguably most pivotal, debate of this already remarkable Election Cycle.

To those of my countrymen, and others, who would insist on asking what the US Election has to do with us here in Jamaica - there are many simple answers: More than half the Jamaican diaspora resides in the US, more than half of Jamaica's nearly 3 million visitors bear a U.S. passport, and the US is still our largest export market - including for one commodity in particular that won't show up on the official trade balance computations of economists.

Weed. Marijuana. Cannabis. Ganja. Pot. Chronic. Hallowed. Storied. Plant of many names. Much travelled and, until fairly recently, much maligned in the Government circles of both the US (where it is still classified at the Federal level as a dangerous drug) and Jmaica, where legislation passed last year rremoved the "dangerous drug" classification and gave fiato to a butrgeoning medical marijuana industry spurred in large part by developments in the US.     All this notwithstanding the pioneering work of Dr Calvin Lockhart and the late Dr Manley West in developing Canasol (and asthmasol).

Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the question of "Mary Jane" has scarcely come up during this bitter battle for the White House, and the very latest bombshell of Trump's impertinent (but frankly , familiar) comments a decade ago about being able to force himself on women by virtue of his position (then) as a "star" is just the latest in a string of personality and character questions for both candidates that - with the help of the media - have crowded out a lot of the less "soundbite-worthy" issues if you will.

 And make no mistake, dealing with the "new dispensation of marijuana" is a serious issue, on many fronts. On the purely economic side, marijuana is THE proverbial elephant in the US political room. Legal marijuana revenues to private interests topped US$4billion in 2015. Beginning with Colorado, four states plus the US Federal capital (Washington DC) have already made the recreational use of marijuana legal. Altogether, nine more states have marijuana Propositions on their ballots for next month, five specifically addressing recreational use. These include California, the most populous state in the US, as well as neighbouring Nevada - home to arguably the world's recreational hub in Las Vegas.

 Clearly, the greater the spread of legalization, the greater the opportunities for Jamaican marijuana- even though its generally accepted that the plant is grown, and used, in every US state (including Alaska, one of the four to already have legalization). At a time when the Jamaican Government desperately needs a solid income source, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Tourism must undoubtedly be watching this "Green Revolution" in the US with considerable glee.

But the implications go way beyond trade and the Government. In this nascent period of "legal weed" the socio-cultural outcomes of marijuana acceptance are just being seen, much less examined. Will this men an end to "sniffer dogs" greeting Jamaicans deplaning at US airports? (of course. cocaine trafficking remains a serious problem). Will it mean an end to jail time for countless Jamaicans, and other minorities and foreign nationals previously held on possession and "attempting to export" or "dealing in"as worded in the Police Communications press releases? Will non-smokers accommodate the spliffs to any lesser or greater degree than they do the cigarettes and cigars? These are but a few of the questions that will arise as the use of cannabis, whether for medical or recreational purposes, or any combination thereof, broadens.

So, where exactly do the candidates stand on this issue Clinton, in a 2015 interview with Christiane Amanpour, says she prefers to wait and see what outcomes the existing medical marijuana regimes produce before going any further. New York, which she represented as Senator, has medical marijuana, with restrictions.Arkansas, where her political career began with her husband, who, by his own admission, has at least a passing acquaintance with recreational marijuana use, does not.



Trump meanwhile, has taken a familiar cop-out; no doubt taking note of the wave of support, "the Donald" who initially opposed marijuana legalization said, also in 2015, that it should be  a "state-by-state" issue. No doubt, his running mate, Indiana Governor and ultra-conservative Mike Pence will have something to say about that before it comes to his state. Trump surrogate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, said in i his own failed Presidential bid, that he would repeal marijuana legalizations if he were to get to the White House. Its anyone's guess as to whether that stance contributed to him now being on the sideline.

Its also anyone's guess, for now, as to how the next President will deal with marijuana once they are in the Oval Office. Hopefully someone in tonight's Town Hall-style showdown will get past the infidelities and the lewd comments and pose the weed question to either candidate.

Whether or not, we here should be watching, with great interest.

The Word on Weed #4

The last four presidents, including Barack Obama, have all admitted to smoking cannabis.

as hemp, a source for fibers, oil, and seed. Prior to its prohibition, U.S. politicians known for growing hemp include some of the nation's Founding Fathers and Presidents . Politicians who have admitted to recreational use of the drug during prohibition include mayors, governors, members of the House of Representatives, Senators and presidents.

Includes current president Barack Obama, formerr Presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush, as well British politicians Boris Johnson and nicola Sturgeon

Business: CIBC's new Boss says "Yeah Mon"

The sitting US President may have raised the bar when it comes to mastering greetings in the Jamaican vernacular, but new CIBC First Caribbean boss Gary Brown, being a musician in his former and even present life, was ceding no ground when he took the podium at a welcome reception at the Terra Nova in his honour.

Preceded by a robust jazz suite from Harold Davis and Friends (Paul Madden -bs; Warren Harris -sx; and Andrew "Pregs" Thompson -dr), Brown adopted the now universal two-word greeting "Yeah mon" which elicited the expected peals of laughter from the clients, friends and well-wishers gathered in the hotel's Venetian room.

Based in Barbados, Brown arrives ata fortuitous time for the bank, which has seen strong capital gains over the past six months.

Brown confirmed the sentiments of other speakers thatthe bank's real growth prospects lay in the retail segment of the business, which it intended to make its presence felt, backed by the considerable resources and stability of its Canadian parent.

The gathering was also reminded of CIBC's strides i nthe digital banking space, including its online portal and its mobile app.\

Business:To Bank, or Not to Bank? the island's two mortgage giants go different ways

The two shareholder annual meetings had markedly different tenors. At the Pegasus, the main ballroom had an expectant air, the air of a giant in transition. There, Earl Jarrett, General Manger (more on that later) of the Jamaica National Building Society, comfortably the nation's largest mortgage lender, and a firm rapidly on the move both geographically and service-wise over the last decade, announced that a "no objection" letter had been received from the Central Bank (Bank of Jamaica) to JN's long-standing proposal to establish a commercial bank.

This was a crucial development in the regulatory process, but, as Jarrett pointed , by no means the ultimate step. Pressed for a more specific timeline, he cautioned that the new entity would definitely NOT  be operational before the end of the 1st quarter of 2016. When it does come on stream, he said, it would significantly boost JN's operational capacity, and - ultimately - revenue and profit position. the banking sector has seen some heat in recent months, with insurance/financial giant Sagicor operationalizing its purchase of the former Royal Bank of Canada and with market number two, bank of Nova Scotia undergoing a region-wide rationalization of branches.

No such mood over at the Knutsford Court just days after, where number two mortgage lender Victoria Mutual, which has also expanded its reach into other financial services but has no plans, at leas in the foreseeable future, to return to the banking arena (it had operated, in tandem with insurer Island Life, the groundbreaking Island Victoria Bank in the 90s, before the FINSAC scythe). Chairman Michael McMorris did state to members that the company was looking for opportunities to expand its ATM network, which it has grown on the back of an aggressive "no or low fees" strategy and the more expected home sweepstakes promotion.

Both organizations are well run and known for the kind of prudent yet occasionally aggressive management that spawned deep shareholder (member) loyalty and goodwill, with one notable JN member seeking to put a motion to the meeting that Jarrett's title be "upgraded" to President, rather than GM, to reflect the scope of the portfolio

National Affairs: Jamaica Farewell, my perspective on the Presidential visit

Leonard Thomas photo

Leonard Thomas photo

It was not the largest public turnout, nor even the most robust; greater crowds greeted the then newly freed Nelson Madela when he and (then) wife Winnie made Jamaica one of their first post-Apartheid stops. Jamaica's own Usain Bolt, returning after smashing his own world records in Berlin, had to crawl through molasses-thick crowds that amassed at the international airport in Kingston and stayed with his mini-motorcade all the way to New Kingston's Pegasus Hotel.

Yet there was a discernibly different energy to this visit, a sense of history that set it apart from the two foregoing examples. It was more than the interval - 33 years - between the the previous Presidential visit and this one, more even than the fact that this was a Black president coming to a predominantly Black country, and the country which offered to the world the greatest Black nationalist/Pan-Africanist yet seen, in the person of Marcus Garvey (more on him later)

Much of what made the Obama visit unforgettable can be encapsulated in two moments, one

NY HeraldRecorder/AP

"unscheduled" and the other organized almost to the minute. As hard as it is to believe that none of the Jamaican co-ordinators even suggested it, the visit to the Bob Marley Museum was the kind of communications and social masterstroke n which Obama built his two successful election campaigns and even his administration as a whole. Eschewing the kind of formal gathering in Government halls or ritzy hotel ball rooms, the President made a point of paying public homage to the man billed as the "first Third World superstar" Leaving himself, ostensibly in the hands of the tour guide, Obama seemed genuinely awed and gratified to be in the 'House that Bob Built". It was, by any measure, magic and the international media picked up on this aspect of the visit as if the coming deliberations with Jamaican PM Simpson-Miller and the visiting CARICOM heads was all hogwash and hot air.

"Beast Mode" the Obama vehicle makes its way up Hope Road

His next triumph came the next day, further up the long dual carriageway (and minutes above the US Embassy complex. On the campus of the University of the West Indies, the President held court with arguably his natural and most sympathetic audience: students and young adults. Before enduring all manner of questions (from the inane to the inspired), Obama gave a typically polished yet relaxed preamble and announced two significant initiatives: the Young Leaders of America project -a regional initiative aimed at offering young social entrepreneurs and others opportunities to intern with companies in the US among other activities, and an energy fund to support clean energy initiatives. The latter is interesting as the President's visit put him just outside the worst effects of the  disgusting  and calamitous fire at the Riverton landfill, the latest - but largest - in a long series of mishaps at the city's major refuse dump.

The visit yielded the expected communiques and joint statements of the kind that the general public absorb next to nothing from even as they observed in rapt attention from bars, banks and supermarkets. It also served up controversy, none initiated by Obama himself, but one episode which continues to simmer even as the President enjoys the Panamanian hospitality (hard to ignore the irony that Jamaicans, as detailed by Olive Senior in her book "Dying to Better Themselves" were an integral part of the labour force that built the Panama Canal, now being expanded).

In preparation for the visit, the Jamaican Government embarked on the kind of infrastructural "sprucing up" - road-repair and other urban beautification - that typically attends the impending arrival of important foreign visitors. It seems to be the Jamaican way, never mind that aid roads had lain unattended and threatening the life, limb and undercarriage of many Jamaican motorists. But in this case, an extra step of "sanitization" was taken. Crab vendors at the southern end of the broad ring around the National Heroes park (itself formerly a horse racing park, still known to older residents as "Race Course") were high-handedly and unceremoniously removed, their livelihoods disrupted, and their dignities assailed in public view.

A large, but sadly not well-sustained outcry ensued, with some quarters countering that the vendors - some established for over 40 years and counting local politicians among their customers - were there without formal permit and without the kind of sanitary conveniences and inputs that might make the granting of such permits moot. The latest on that situation is that Kingston Mayor Angella Brown-Burke has publicly informed the vendors that they may, in the wake of the President's jet trailed departure, they may return to their "Race Course" roost.

Another controversy still emitting some heat concerns the remarks from "New Reggae Revolutionary" Chronixx. In an Instagram post, the already revered singjay led with a reminder of the ongoing issue of a full pardon for the aforementioned Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey who was found guilty of mail fraud and deported from the United States at the height of the global growth of his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Against an image of Garvey in his famous regalia, Chronixx opined "this man still have a criminal in the United States, and we glorifying some waste man!"       The term is roughly equivalent to "punk" or even to "scoundrel" or "wastrel".

This time a resounding chorus of disagreement across social media and a public rebuke from Jamaican Minister of Youth and Culture Lisa Hanna, with whom Chronixx has previously exchanged some not too pleasant words. Though the singer, as he pointed out, never referred to anyone directly in his "waste man" remark, the timing the background and the general flow of sentiment made a strong case for the inference, and many expressed disappointment with the artiste, viewed as part of the new revolutionary yet progressive element that had been sorely missing from the island's globally-adored popular music.

Like the Riverton fire, the President escaped personal presence in this last firestorm (a former Jamaican Senator has, suprisingly, sprung to Chronixx' defence), but no doubt he will have been apprised by his aides, and no doubt the US Embassy will be taking a new, harder look at future visa applications from the singer and his Zinc Fence Redemption band. this is not meant to be mean-spirited, it is merely the truth informed by experience.

But for all these factors, President Obama's visit to Jamaica remains a watershed, a brief but deeply affecting experience for both visitor and host. with the end of his term just a little more than a year away, there are certainly moments from this trip that he will ponder long into private life, and likewise, the populace is universally agreed that even if the interval between this and future Presidential visits is shorter (there is already much private anticipation of the expected candidacy - historic if it proves successful - of Hilary Clinton), we shall not again see the like of Barack Obama on our shores, at least not as leader of the free world