Bishop leaves marijuana commission four days after public consultation

Prime Minister Gaston Browne has criticised the "premature departure" of Bishop Charlesworth Browne from the National Marijuana Commission.

The resignation comes just four days after the first public marijuana consultation.

At the consultation, the prime minister committed to decriminalising up to five grams of the drug by the end of 2017.

“I will like to challenge him as to where in the bible that says that we have to criminalise people for the use of marijuana and I don’t think decriminalisation contradicts any risks that he may be concerned about,” Gaston Browne said.

“First of all, our government is not advocating the use of marijuana; we accept that there are downside risks.

"The issue at hand is whether we decriminalise weed… I don’t understand why he would think that a policy decision to decriminalise weed or marijuana would go against any particular value he may have.”