LETTER: The ‘Spliff and Drive’ Pandemic Taking Over Antigua

Dear Editor,

I am writing out of growing concern about what I can only describe as the spliff and drive pandemic that is quietly taking over our roads, A culture that now seems disturbingly normal in Antigua and Barbuda.

Just recently, while driving along the Queen Elizabeth Highway, I witnessed a young man operating his vehicle with one hand on the steering wheel and a lit joint in the other. Smoke filled the inside of the vehicle so thickly it looked like fog. This was not an isolated incident. I have seen the same behaviour on Perry Bay Main Road and in many, many other places across the island.

Let me be clear: this is not about attacking marijuana use or demonising young people. It is about public safety. Whatever one’s views on cannabis, driving while impaired is dangerous, full stop.

It forces me to ask the same questions many responsible citizens are now asking: Is it as a result of the decriminalization of a couple ounces of marijuana that these boys think that all they can do is smoke? I mean, it’s already bad, walking around seeing them sitting on the roadside smoking. Now they are bringing the nonsense into traffic.

Reaction time slows, judgment is affected, and innocent road users are placed at serious risk. What started as a roadside habit has now moved directly into moving vehicles, and that should alarm every parent, pedestrian, and motorist.

So again I ask: Is there something that can be done? Or should the government reverse its decision to decriminalize some small amount of marijuana in Antigua and Barbuda?

Our roads are already dangerous enough with speeding, reckless driving, and distracted driving claiming lives every year. Adding drug-impaired driving to that list is a tragedy waiting to happen.

This “spliff and drive” behaviour should not be laughed off or ignored. It requires urgent attention from law enforcement, policymakers, and public educators alike before we are forced to respond after a life is lost.

Concerned citizens are watching. And many of us are worried.