One of the things that kind of surprised me about Trinidad is how bad marijuana use is looked on socially, at least publically. There are plenty of people smoking it but it carries a stigma to admit it, way more than the USA in my opinion. It really is kind of stigmatized.
My wife elbowed me once for admitting I once smoked weed in a discussion, like are you nuts or something.
My wife’s nephew moved to NYC with his mom, he said he was shocked how in his high school there how open kids were talking about marijuana use, and how rampant it was.
It surprised me too, and I laughed when during an episode of Locked Up Abroad an American woman in Jamaica meets her smuggler connect at a fast food place, she pulls the bale of weed out of a backpack and raises it up in public view. Her Jamaican connect looks panicked and says are you crazy, she goes relax this is Jamaica weed is legal right, he corrects her misconception.
And I have had a ton of people I know in the US tell me oh in the Caribbean people must walk around openly smoking joints, NOPE!
I personally never saw anyone smoke it in Puerto Rico, but there are a few neighborhoods in San Juan that are infamous for being more or less open drug marts. I think it’s mostly a “mind your own business” kind of place. People don’t really get too uppity about it, but also don’t see much of a problem if you toke up at home once in a while.
I spend a lot of vacation time in Jamaica. It is illegal there, technically, but it is so rampant that you wonder why they bother to make it illegal. Smoking weed in Jamaica is about as stigmatized, and about as punished, as driving over the speed limit in the USA.
My wife used to do this whenever I would drive us back from our weekly visits to our [del]dealer[/del] independent pharmaceutical contractor. She’d hold the bag up to her nose and take a big whiff of the skunk, in front of God and everybody. If a cop had seen us…
Contrary to popular belief, some of the islands are ***very ***conservative societies, at least when it comes to “public morals”. They may tolerate things done privately or quietly, but outsiders flaunting it blatantly on the street may be seen as daring The Man to do something about it.
Puerto Rico is basically any US state before formal decriminalization/medicalization, when it comes to weed. Keep it private, have a discreet dealer, don’t show up to work baked (does not apply to showing up for class at UPR ), and you’re cool. Do it in the public thoroughfare, get caught at the point-of-sales, or be found with 5 pounds inside a School Zone, and you’re in trouble.
That said, if you’re an American tourist and are going to get arrested, do so here, where US Constitutional rights apply.
), and you’re cool. Do it in the public thoroughfare, get caught at the point-of-sales, or be found with 5 pounds inside a School Zone, and you’re in trouble.