Hypocrites!
That was how attorney Douglas Trotman described some members of the medical fraternity in Barbados as he blasted them for what he perceived to be dragging their feet to embrace marijuana for medical purposes but were now seeking to gain financially from its use.
For two years, Trotman and his wife Kathy-Anne, who died from breast cancer in April this year, had been battling to acquire an import licence for the use of medical marijuana, after it was prescribed by her Canadian doctor as part of her palliative care.
In a scathing attack during the question and answer segment of a public forum on medical marijuana hosted by the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Wednesday night, Trotman cried shame on doctors, some who were present.
“What is happening now, everybody is jumping on the band wagon because it’s an opportunity to make some money, maybe start a new direction in your practise but I am not going to sit and watch you fool people, that ain’t happening. Anybody who knows me knows that ain’t going to happen and if I got to sue anybody I gine do it for free. I want you all to remember that,” he said.
The bereft husband, who indicated his intent to leave the island, was especially angry because, according to him, marijuana was not illegal in Barbados and hadn’t been since 1991.
“Marijuana is legal and I have the evidence to prove,” he maintained to the large audience.
Trotman said he was in possession of an import licence for cannabis, which he said was signed by acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Anton Best as the representative for the Minister of Health as well as a civil servant working in the Drug Service. However, he suggested it was the cowardice of some in the medical field that didn’t allow for his wife to attain the medicine. (SDB Media)
