{"id":10379,"date":"2014-10-15T01:29:30","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T01:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/?p=10379"},"modified":"2014-10-15T01:29:30","modified_gmt":"2014-10-15T01:29:30","slug":"governor-de-jongh-vetoes-marijuana-decriminalization-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379","title":{"rendered":"Governor De Jongh Vetoes Marijuana Decriminalization Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

In taking action on a slew of bills as part of the government’s fiscal year 2015 budget, Governor de Jongh revealed that he had vetoed two of the measures, one of which is Sen. Terrence “Positive” Nelson’s marijuana decriminalization bill.<\/p>\n

Senator Nelson had been pushing for the measure for much of his tenure in the 30th Legislature, and succeeded at having all the senators fall in line with his push for decriminalization. De Jongh, however, saw too many discrepancies with the bill, including the way it conflicted with the judicial system, among other things.<\/p>\n

The “measure as drafted represents an inconsistent application of law as it pertains to private employees versus” government employees, it curtails the government’s ability to “enforce and regulate workplace rules and codes of conduct, particularly in those areas involving hazardous jobs, public safety and the operation of heavy equipment,” and it compromises the ability of the “judiciary to effectively enforce its orders pertaining to pre-trial release and bail,” de Jongh stated in his transmittal letter to the Senate.<\/p>\n

Since its passage in the 30th Legislature, bill No. 30-0018 has stirred much controversy, as concerned citizens began taking a closer look at the measure, identifying loopholes that would leave law enforcement officers ill-equipped to uphold certain laws.<\/p>\n

In an interview with this reporter last month<\/a><\/span>, Nelson said marijuana was not his number 1 priority; instead, he cast blame on the media for stirring the pot.<\/p>\n

“Let me straighten you out,\u201d Senator Nelson said, “the marijuana issue is a hot topic, everybody is talking about it. It\u2019s not me, it\u2019s on the radio \u2014 everybody\u2019s talking about it. That\u2019s what they have to the front. Twenty-three states have passed [marijuana bills] so it\u2019s a big issue, but it\u2019s not really my priority. Of course it\u2019s not.”<\/p>\n

Senator Nelson added that the controversy surrounding marijuana was not something he ever intended, as all along he only wished\u00a0to place the topic before the people before any other step was taken.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole marijuana business that\u2019s going all over the place [and has become] viral, what did I want,\u201d Nelson said, \u201cI wanted to ask the people what they think about it before we took any initiative on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is now up the senators of the 30th Legislature to override Gov. de Jongh’s veto or leave it as is.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Image Credit:\u00a0SCMP<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In taking action on a slew of bills as part of the government’s fiscal year 2015 budget, Governor de Jongh revealed that he had vetoed two of the measures, one of which is Sen. Terrence “Positive” Nelson’s marijuana decriminalization bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[228,11,191,147],"tags":[49],"yoast_head":"\nGovernor De Jongh Vetoes Marijuana Decriminalization Bill - V.I. Consortium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Governor de Jongh vetoes Senator Terrence "Positive" Nelson's marijuana decriminalization bill.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ernice Gilbert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379\",\"name\":\"Governor De Jongh Vetoes Marijuana Decriminalization Bill - V.I. Consortium\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-15T01:29:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-15T01:29:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51\"},\"description\":\"Governor de Jongh vetoes Senator Terrence \\\"Positive\\\" Nelson's marijuana decriminalization bill.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Governor De Jongh Vetoes Marijuana Decriminalization Bill\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/\",\"name\":\"V.I. Consortium\",\"description\":\"Uniting the Caribbean\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51\",\"name\":\"Ernice Gilbert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ernice Gilbert\"},\"description\":\"I wear many hats, I suppose, but the one which fits me best would be journalism, second to that would be radio personality, thirdly singer\/songwriter and down the line. I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at ernice@viconsortium.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/ernicegilbert.com\/\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Governor De Jongh Vetoes Marijuana Decriminalization Bill - V.I. Consortium","description":"Governor de Jongh vetoes Senator Terrence \"Positive\" Nelson's marijuana decriminalization bill.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ernice Gilbert","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379","url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379","name":"Governor De Jongh Vetoes Marijuana Decriminalization Bill - V.I. Consortium","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-10-15T01:29:30+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-15T01:29:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51"},"description":"Governor de Jongh vetoes Senator Terrence \"Positive\" Nelson's marijuana decriminalization bill.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=10379#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Governor De Jongh Vetoes Marijuana Decriminalization Bill"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/","name":"V.I. Consortium","description":"Uniting the Caribbean","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51","name":"Ernice Gilbert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ernice Gilbert"},"description":"I wear many hats, I suppose, but the one which fits me best would be journalism, second to that would be radio personality, thirdly singer\/songwriter and down the line. I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at ernice@viconsortium.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/ernicegilbert.com\/"],"url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10379"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}