St Lucia: Poll shows most want changes to marijuana laws

Last updated: October 18, 2017 at 19:45 pm

Most St Lucians support the relaxing of marijuana laws, according to a poll carried out by the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES).

The current legal status were preferred by 38% of those questioned, while 51% supported full legalisation or partial decriminalisation, which CADRES said “essentially means that most St Lucians are opposed to the maintenance of the status quo.”

Approximately 1,000 people were interviewed across the island in September.

Participants were asked their “views on the decriminalisation of marijuana in St Lucia” and provided with three possible responses, as well as the option not to respond.

According to CADRES, which also conducted similar polls in several Caribbean islands including Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines, the results tell an important story that is likely to be applicable across the region.

“It is interesting to note that the attitude of St Lucians on this issue is similar to that of all other Caribbean countries surveyed, especially as the margin of error associated with these surveys is plus or minus 5%,” the organisation said in a statement.

“St Lucia therefore shares the same attitude towards full legalisation with St Vincent, while Barbados, Dominica and Antigua all have a slightly larger quantity of persons who are supportive of full legalisation.

“Similarly, the 38 per cent of St Lucians that opted for the status quo is consistent with the level of opposition to decriminalisation in St Vincent, Dominica and Barbados.”