National Security Council moves to fold designer drugs into Jamaica’s drug statutes

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s National Security Council has given the green light to proposals that would update the country’s narcotics framework by placing new psychoactive substances — also called synthetic or designer drugs — under laws already on the books.

In a release after its July 23 session, the council linked the move to a climb in confiscations of synthetic narcotics, among them products sold as “Molly”. Officials framed the step as part of the Government’s push to keep Jamaica’s statutes aligned with a narcotics trade that is changing quickly.

Lawmakers are to revise the applicable statutes so newly appearing psychoactive compounds can be listed and regulated without delay, limiting the chance they take root locally.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who led the session, said: “Synthetic drugs represent one of the fastest-growing threats to citizen security and public health. Criminal organisations continually modify these substances to evade the law. Our legislation must evolve just as rapidly to ensure Jamaica has the legal tools necessary to protect our people, particularly our young people.”