P.M. and Louis Wade Clash over Science of Decriminalization

But there will be opposition to the bill, primarily from church groups. They believe that marijuana along with alcohol is a ‘gateway drug’ to harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin and that the amount chosen to regulate is arbitrary. Prime Minister Dean Barrow shied away from direct confrontation with pastor and journalist Louis Wade, who sought to bring a scientific perspective to the issue by comparing regulation of alcohol through blood content with grading the THC content of cannabis. Wade contends that such major legislation should have been placed before the people in a referendum and not left up to ‘personal experience.’

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“Whatever happened to you is singular; I don’t know that you can extrapolate from that… (Interruption) But that is what you believe. If you can point me to some scientific data that supports that, then perhaps you have an argument.”

Louis Wade, Member, NEAB

“Can I point you to some science, sir? The University of Toronto…”

Dean Barrow

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“Mr. Wade, you know what? If we are going to get into a debate…”

Louis Wade

“But you just asked him to point to some science; can I point you to the science? (Cross-talking)”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“Sir, this is a huge subject, on which opinions will be terribly divided…”

Louis Wade

“That’s why we want to give the science.”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“I respect your position; I respect your position, sir; there are very many people I know, who smoke marijuana and are not addicted, and lead productive lives. But please, I really don’t think that we have the time to get into a debate with you.”

Louis Wade

Louis Wade

“Take the question and don’t answer it…”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“You want to be able to in effect make a comment and that’s fine, I’m not going to get into it.”

Louis Wade

“(Cross-talking) Here’s the question: alcohol is not measured by the quantity that a person has on him at the time; it is measured by the amount of alcohol content in the blood. According to your legislation, discuss with us the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC content that your legislation provides is legal; what is the legal limit in the blood for marijuana?”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“(Gesturing) Let’s do that on the side because I’m not going to get into a back and forth.”

Louis Wade

“Imagine if alcohol was regulated in this country based on how much rum you had on you when the police come? That’s not how drugs work. It’s not when they bust you in an accident, they count the pint bottles you have on you; that’s not science. What is done is a drug test is taken and the law prescribes a legal limit for alcohol consumption – it’s not how much bottles you have. I don’t know where the Prime Minister’s Cabinet got the concept that marijuana should be regulated based on how much you have on you. Alcohol is based on a legal limit and my question to the Prime Minister that he could not answer was very simple: what is the legal limit for marijuana in the blood? He could not answer.”

Reporter

“You mean the THC content?”

Louis Wade

“The tetrahydrocannabinol, because every kind of marijuana contains different quantities of tetrahydrocannabinol, just like how every beer, versus tequila, versus ‘big foot’ or ‘elephant foot’ has a difference. It was very simple science that we asked the Prime Minister.”