The federal government of Antigua and Barbuda is taking a big step in the direction of prison justice reform by proposing laws geared toward expunging prison information for people convicted of possessing small quantities of hashish.
This initiative will clear the information of these affected, enabling them to legally declare an absence of prior arrests or juvenile delinquency in varied authorized {and professional} contexts.
Scheduled parliamentary consideration
In a pivotal transfer scheduled for July, the Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda will convene to debate and probably go this transformative laws.
This growth follows a historic context the place earlier makes an attempt at expunging minor offenses, enacted in 2013, weren’t carried out.
Alignment with decriminalization efforts
The proposed laws builds on the Misuse of Medication (Modification) Act of March 2018, which decriminalized the possession of as much as 15 grams of hashish or hashish resin.
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Notably, whereas this modification eased penalties for small-scale possession, it didn’t legalize the sale of hashish, and strict penalties stay for such actions.
Moreover, present laws permit households to domesticate not more than 4 hashish crops, with possession past this restrict nonetheless thought-about unlawful.