Wherever you are, there will people that will be resistant to change. Sometime it will be you. Sometimes you end up longing for the way things used to be, and sometimes you realize in retrospect that it wasn't so bad. Sometimes you embraced it, or instituted it. It seems as though every time a change is presented in Bermuda, there is a large faction that battles it full force, and often successfully delays the inevitable for a long time. In recent months, there has been a lot of media and a lot of dispute about several issues.
I have previously mentioned the cash strapped hospital taking committed measures to the closure of the urgent care center on the island. Protests were organized, petitions signed, and the Government used its power to reverse the hospital's decision and keep the center open, causing further losses, for now. "The people have spoken," it was conceded.
Bermuda prohibited the sale of liquor on Sundays sometime many many years ago, except within licensed facilities -- so you could have a drink in a bar or restaurant, but the grocery stores and gas stations had to pull curtains or try to conceal their liquor supplies on Sundays, since the sale was prohibited. This year government decided to amend the liquor act to allow sale of alcohol on both Sundays and Public Holidays anywhere that liquor is sold. There were protests. There were merchants who said they were just not going to open Sundays, and some who said they didn't want to sell liquor on Sunday even if they were open for other business. People were morally outraged. I wondered if the Seventh Day Adventists would mind, since their day of observance is Saturday, and indeed some did. One person could only explain their opposition as liquor has never been available on a Sunday for my whole life and I don't see why it should be now. Issue was taken with the hour on Sunday that liquor would be available -- would it be 8am? Who needs to buy liquor at 8am on a Sunday? I listened carefully to the objections that there would be more wayward people, more crime, and more social problems. Liquor somewhat quietly went on sale on Sundays and Public Holidays earlier this month, for the record.
The next issue that hit the headlines yet again was Gaming. Gaming has also never been allowed in Bermuda for as long as anyone can remember, except for that one place in town where you go to bet on the horses, but that's beside the point because Bermuda has a long stand against Gaming. Even the cruise ships that dock in Bermuda have to close the casino on their ship and bar their passengers from it while they are docked in Bermuda. Money is short these days though, and Bermuda knows it needs to find ways to increase revenue and boost tourism. So they are looking at bringing a Casino on the island as an option. There was moral outrage. There was resistance to Gaming when there has never before been Gaming. I listened carefully to the objections that there would be more wayward people, more crime, and more social problems. The Government announced they would hold a referendum. The Opposition allegedly told the Government 'under the table' that they would institute a boycott of the Referendum by their members, by the protesters and the morally outraged. For the record, the Opposition says the Government lied about the allegations, although on a their facebook page they have a list of complaints against the Government, including "putting private conversations on speakerphones and possibly recording." Government cancelled the Referendum, saying they would not waste money on a national referendum if a boycott had been threatened. Instead it was set to be tabled as a bill and would scheduled to be voted on by the representatives of the people (which really is how government is supposed to operate isn't anyway isn't it?) More outrage ensued. The people spoke. And now there will be educational information sessions for the public before the government proceeds with its business and takes the bill to the vote. Strangely, somewhere in the middle of all of this, the Corporation of Hamilton rented out the city's Waterfront to a developer for a couple of hundred years with the OK to build a casino. You know what happened. There were protests, there was outrage, there had never before been a casino on the waterfront -- but this time the Government led the protest and had to make laws to take power away from the Corporation. I stopped watching after a while, I am not sure if this is even resolved. The main point is that in Bermuda, change gets political, change gets public, and change gets personal.
So imagine my surprise last night when I pulled up the online paper and looked at the various headlines. "Lack of Funding: School Program in Jeopardy." Where are those revenue ideas? "Man Crashes Into Police Station Wall: Arrested." Well it's Tuesday so we can't blame that on Sunday liquor sales. "Police Confirm Man's Body Found in Water." It says it appears he fell in Monday night...I won't speculate. "53 Year Old Man Assaulted in Southampton." "Premier Cannonier: 'We are on the Right Track.'" And "PLP Bill: Remove Sanctions for Under 20 grams."
WHAT??? The PLP is the official opposition party and their Facebook page states a strong opposition to closing the urgent care center, accuses Government of rushing through alcohol legislation too quickly, and criticizes Government for cancelling the Gaming Referendum. They have vehemently and loudly criticized virtually every breath taken by Government (taking their role as the Opposition very literally), but today they merrily announce they have drafted a bill to take to the house on the first session in February in order to "remove penal controls and criminal sanctions" for possession of less than 20 grams of cannabis or cannabis resin.
OK, I don't know a lot about drugs, but isn't 20 grams a lot to have in your pocket? Thank goodness for Wikipedia, I typed in my question and it tells me "19 Grams is usually a lot of weed." I kid you not, that is actually what came up. It also says it is worth $100-$250 depending on quality. I asked the same question on Yahoo and it referred me to an previous answer from a Colombian drug dealer who said you can easily make 40 joints from 20 grams, and makes it clear that when you have that much weed, you can keep 8 for yourself, invest in the next batch, and still make a nice profit. The address from PLP Senator Daniels says "Bermudians, residents, and guests who have been caught with small amounts of cannabis have suffered devastating and life altering consequences for far too long. Bermudians have been prohibited from travelling to the United States and Canada, we have had our reputations smeared and our job prospects shattered due to convictions for simple possession of cannabis...Will we be bold enough to chart a new destiny and seek new ways of generating revenue; perhaps with an influx of tourists and/or local taxes and license fees. The possibilities are endless if we only dare to be different." If I paraphrase that, does it say "we don't like the consequences of actions that are criminal here and abroad, so we aspire to change the illegal action to legal in our country so that consequences are no longer suffered, PLUS we can profit from selling weed to our local citizens and foreign travellers?" That's kinda of what I got out of that.
I was expecting moral outrage. I was expecting protests, the standard argument that there should not be legal weed now when there was never legal weed before. I expected to hear concerns of more wayward people, more crime, more social problems. Of course the party in power has criticized the move as naive and reckless without public input and further debate, but doesn't dispute the general idea that travel restrictions and consequences for convictions for cannabis use is a problem that they too want to make go away. And what of the public? It seems to be quieter than usual. One editorial suggesting meekly that this may not be the door to open and then 96 comments online after article announcing the bill. Scrolling through I saw no solid objections, except objecting to the possibility of the new distributors needing a government license. Several people thought it might improve road safety, or at least improve the mood of a few bus drivers. The mood seems quite mellow actually. The people, in not speaking, have spoken.
I just wonder how the tourism board is going to alter their ads -- currently the market image targets wealthy tourists with the lure of a quaint, elegant Bermuda. Maybe we will need Cheech and Chong in next year's ads, quaintly discussing the end to world hunger over a reefer and high tea at the Hamilton P.
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