There has been a 70% drop in drug-related matters before the criminal courts since the decriminalisation of marijuana.
Acting Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi gave statistics as he led a Motion to Adopt the Report of the Joint Select Committee on the Cannabis Control Bill 2020 in the Lower House on Wednesday.
Mr. Al-Rawi, who chaired the Joint Select Committee, said between 2017 and 2018, there were some 9,553 marijuana related cases with 8,316 being for possession of marijuana alone. He said statistics from the prison show that the vast majority of persons between the ages of 20 and 34 were incarcerated by the thousands for marijuana possession.