Cruise ship passengers asking for marijuana- Bishop John I. Cline
Bishop Cline was at the time a guest of the online radio show Fresh Radio Vybz with host Paul A. Peart aka ‘Gadiethz’ on January 19, 2018.
A possible new revenue stream
The men were at the time discussing new revenue streams for the Virgin Islands as it seeks to rebuild following the destructive hurricanes of September 2017.
One of the revenue streams suggested was medical marijuana, which Bishop Cline believes the Virgin Islands needs to have a discussion on.
“It is all over the news, and all over the world and we are behind the eight ball with even having a discussion.”
According to Bishop Cline, banks are even having conferences on how to handle and process the billions of dollars being generated from medical marijuana.
“We need strong, we need bold leadership in order to have these discussions. Of course there are going to be dissenting voices because people are destroyed for lack of knowledge and people who don’t have the knowledge or the understanding you just have to give them as much as you can and lead them and later on they will thank you for taking them there.”
Billion-dollar market
North American marijuana sales grew by an unprecedented 30% in 2016 to $6.7 billion as the legal market expands in the US and Canada, according to a report released earlier this year by Arcview Market Research.
In fact, North American sales are projected to top $20.2 billion by 2021 assuming a compound annual growth rate of 25%.
In another report published ahead of the US November 2016 election, analysts at Cowen and Co. estimated that the cannabis industry is worth about $6 billion in annual sales. Another $25 billion could be added to that from black market sales, and if and when those transition to the legal market, it could be worth $50 billion by 2026, the report found.
Marijuana sales rose 30% in 2016 and Colorado, one of the industry’s earliest US test markets, generated $200 million of tax revenue from $1.3 billion in marijuana sales in 2016.
‘A penny saved is a penny earned’
Bishop Cline has publicly stated his position in the past about marijuana and that it should be legalised, making the point that alcohol, which he believes is more dangerous than marijuana, is legal.
But his main issue has always been the incarcerating of young men for small amounts of marijuana and the burden it is costing Government to prosecute and imprison.
His comments came on the heels of substitute magistrate and attorney Mr Richard G. Rowe stating on a previous edition of Fresh Radio Vybz that marijuana should be decriminilised.
“Your mother used to say a penny saved is a penny earned. Right now we have probably over 15 to 20 young men in prison locked up for small spliffs, so I believe Rowe is right. It is costing us about $20 a day to house those prisoners and feed them. So the first thing you do when you decriminalise it, you take the load off your criminal justice system, you take the load off the prison system, consequently you save money.
“So, that money you are paying incarcerating and feeding healthy and able young men who could be out in the community producing, that is one way you save,” Bishop Cline suggested.
Tourists asking for the weed
Further, he said there is a social aspect of marijuana use and claimed that cruise ship passengers often ask for marijuana when they get off the ship.
“They want to smoke. Marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol. As a matter of fact, alcohol is much more dangerous than smoking a joint.”
Educate them
Bishop Cline said to fight back against the stigma attached to marijuana is to educate people.
“We have to educate people that what the other countries have made a demon in the past now it is a cash cow for them but we are still controlling that demon, and we have to say, there is the social aspect of it, there is an element that can generate revenue, as long as we have the legislative framework.”
The clergyman said he was in Uruguay about two weeks ago and learned that country has decriminilised marijuana. “…they have legalised it to their citizens and people like that and the world is just way ahead…”
He continued that people need facts about marijuana and how it became illegal in some societies.
“In America it was really about systematic genocide. How do you destroy the lives of young black men and women in a way that you can lock them up, take away their voting rights, their economic power, and put them in prison, and marijuana was one of those things. Ask anyone who knows anything about the criminal justice system in America and they will tell you that the drug was not criminilised because it was so dangerous, it was a way to impact negatively the African-American community especially, and by extension the Hispanic community.
“And we are still doing it today. We are taking what oppressors put on us and using it against our own people. Those kinds of things have to stop.”
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57 Responses to “Cruise ship passengers asking for marijuana- Bishop John I. Cline”
To hear those words coming from a pastor is an abomination. You Bishop misery like company. Not everyone wants to see his first born go the trend y**** took. Is this the advice you will give the youths Minister Tittle is trying so hard to mold?
SHAME IN YOU.
The law is not sacred. And church is often a tool for oppression and keeping people like sheep so the rulers have conservative allies.
Plus, I never seen anywhere in the Bible that says the natural herb should be banned. Americans made that up in 1920s as a racist way of keeping Mexicans and black people down.
1. The underlying tone of this article is around the amount of MONEY that can be made from legalizing marijuana. At whose expense. First off the bible states the "Love of MONEY is the root of ALL Evil". Nuff said.
2. Colorado approved medical marijuana in 2010 and legalized its recreational use four years later in 2014. A 2017 report states that more teens in the state of Colorado have been sent to the ER for overuse of marijuana since its legalization. Again, legalizing it in the BVI at whose expense.
3. Marijuana is a mind altering drug and unlike alcohol, it is the most abused drug in the adolescence age group. Studies show that its use at an early age interferes with the normal development of the brain while it is still maturing. So her we go again, buying into the slave master plan because they can no longer afford to pay for us to be in prison where it teaches our young men a valuable lesson and give them and opportunity to come out decent citizens, then why not let them continue to use it freely, alter their young brains so they amount to nothing more than inspiring to sit on the street corner and get high.
4. It may not be the right answer but prison is a deterrent
5. and finally, as for the tourist. If they were getting it in their own country, they would not be coming here looking for it. Why is it not legal in their neck of the woods.
Just my opinion and yes, I am of a Christian following.
I think people need to actually find out the facts and have a REAL discussion with people on the other side about this. People need to sit and LISTEN rather than claiming 'Facts', that are not really 'Facts'.
Dare i say this would be a great discussion to have while passing a joint!!
I don't smoke but I have used it for menstruation problems back then and it sure helped. Nothing is wrong to use it as a tea and medically it has done wonder for many.Legalise it. just a specific quantity. in generally you gonna have buyers and sellers anyhow anywhere in fact all over the world. if one look at it the techniques and countries play a vital role in production and there is where preferencial comes in too. that from st marten might be stronger and better than that in the BVI or vice versa. Just legalise it. Anything over use can kill even too much inflammation bush can kill. with us recovering from the flood and hurricane this can be another form of revenue and perhaps boost the tourism product .
(1) Legalizing Marijuana for medical reasons and (2) for recreational purposes. They are not one in the same thing.
I am sure the tourists are not asking for it to cure any medical issue and most persons on here agreeing with its legalization, are not talking about its medical value but rather the free use of it for recreation. That, I have an issue with and the potential negative effect it can have on our children and the moral fabric of our country.
Get a grip. I am sure there are other creative and safer ways to generate $$$$ for this county.
Who said it was a good thing that alcohol was legalized maybe many lives would have been saved. BUT THERE is some good where its derivative is used for medicine and healing .