Go Lean…Caribbean

Go Lean Commentary

The Change Agent cometh; … they always come.

The only constant is change itself.

A primary motivation of the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean is to better cope with societal change. The book asserted that the region had been “steamrolled” by dynamic Agents of Change; these 4 agents are full explored in the book (Page 57) with this introduction:

Shakespeare described change as “an undiscovered country”. No one knows exactly what will happen next and when. The best practice is to monitor the developments in the marketplace, adapt and adjust as soon as possible. This description of a nimble response is the purpose behind “Agile” project management and other Lean management methodologies. … Assuming a role to “understand the market and plan the business” requires looking at the business landscape today and planning the strategic, tactical, and operational changes to keep pace with the market and ahead of competitors. Strategic changes that must be accounted for now, includes:

• Technology
• Globalization
• Climate Change
• Aging Diaspora

This commentary – entry 4 of 4 – is the final submission in this series on the counter-culture of the 1960’s/1970’s. This series from the Go Lean movement considers the experiences of how people deviated from the mainstream society to forge change in their communities. The people – think: Hippies – were scorned and ridiculed, but they persisted … and eventually manifested change on … everything and everybody. The other commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

1. Counter-culture: Embracing the Change – Battling against Orthodoxy
2. Counter-culture: Manifesting Change – Environmentalism & ‘Climate Change’ abatement
3. Counter-culture: Monetizing the Change – Education, Workplace, Healthcare & Retirement Mandates
4. Counter-culture: Pushing for Change – Is Ganja here to stay?

Today, it is clear that mainstream society has been assimilated by the counter-culture revolution with previously debated New Morals. Some people even claim that this New Morality is the same Old Immorality. For instance, consider recreational drugs, marijuana in particular; counter-culturists have always “pushed” for the freedom of marijuana use; see the VIDEO in the Appendix below. Despite all the efforts to outlaw it, authority figures are now starting to just accept, tolerate and legitimize its usage. This last commentary in this series asked the pointed question:

Is Ganja here to stay?

(We use the Caribbean branding here for marijuana; known by many different names: weed, cannabis, pot or reefer).

Is this change here to stay? Is this just another victory from the counter-culturists from the 1960’s/1970’s? They are still pushing! Though it may not be the same people, it is still the same counter-revolutionary attitudes.

As related in the previous submissions – in this series – the champions of the counter-culture were able to claim some measure of victory in their efforts. Therefore, all of these commentaries have conveyed “how” the stewards for a new Caribbean can shepherd our society for smoother change management.

The marijuana reality is pressing down on us. Notice the imminence as conveyed in this news article here from St. Lucia:

Title # 1: Mondesir says ganja unstoppable, here to stay

Former Health Minister, Doctor Keith Mondesir, asserting that ganja is here to stay and is unstoppable, has come out in support of its legalisation.

“The entire first world, Europe , the USA, have tried hard to stop it. They have given up now realising this is here to stay. So  we as a people in the Caribbean, we have to determine what policies  do we have right now and what policies should we adopt,” Mondesir declared.

“Are we going to have open policy like Holland? Are we going to have it restricted like the US in certain places? But we know that the world is now accepting the smoking of marijuana,” the former minister observed.

He pointed to the example of Canada which is heading towards legalisation,  noting that farmers there are preparing to cash in on the herb.

“If anyone planting marijuana here has any intention of making money, they are missing the boat,” Mondesir remarked.

Just last week National Security Minister and former Deputy Police Commissioner, Hermangild Francis, expressed support for ‘relaxing’ current ganja laws in Saint Lucia.

But the Cannabis Movement, which has been in the forefront of the push to decriminalise or legalise marijuana ‘outright’, has accused the authorities  here of being split and possibly ‘two-faced’ on the issue.
Source: Retrieved May 12, 2018 from: https://stluciatimes.com/2018/04/23/mondesir-says-ganja-unstoppable-here-to-stay/

Were you alive in the 1960’s or 1970’s?

Can you believe now that we are talking about how we can co-exist with legal marijuana use in our communities?

Such talk would have been considered crazy, just a few years or a decade ago.

But crazy is as crazy does; consider these quotes from Advertising Executive Rob Siltanen:

1. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
2. “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

The stewards for a new Caribbean regional administration – the movement behind the Go Lean book, a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) – are not crazy. We know the dangers, risks and threats of drugs in society, and yet accept that this counter-cultural change may also be inevitable. So rather that dreading or running from the eventuality of marijuana decriminalization, we seek to prepare for it, but on a regional, super-national level. Amazingly, this strategy also aligns with a former government Cabinet member in St. Lucia; “he” made this siren call:

Title # 2: ‘Musa’ wants united Caribbean approach to ganja decriminalisation

Former Agriculture Minister, Moses ‘Musa’ Jn Baptiste, has expressed the view that the Caribbean should approach the issue of decriminalising marijuana in a united way.

‘It is something that we have spoken about even when we were in government. I was minister of agriculture and that question came up many times,’ Jn Baptiste recalled.

‘We were always of the view that the Caribbean should approach this in a united way because if you have decriminalisation in various countries and not in others, especially in an OECS economic union, you can envisage the challenges,’ the former minister told reporters Thursday.

He asserted that the decriminalisation process and the decriminalisation movement in the region are moving in a ‘particular direction.’

‘I am sure that all governments in the sub-region will quickly realise that instead of everybody doing it on their own, that we  should move on this,’ Jn Baptiste declared.

He expressed the hope that there would be widespread consultation.

‘The whole society has to sit down and talk about this – but certainly, this is moving in a particular direction and we see what is happening in the United States, we see what is happening in certain states in the United States and  we just noticed what has happened in Antigua and definitely I am sure all governments and people in the region, especially the OECS economic union, will be taking this seriously,’ Jn Baptiste stated.
Source: Retrieved May 12, 2018 from: https://stluciatimes.com/2018/04/06/musa-wants-united-caribbean-approach-to-ganja-decriminalisation/

Imagine a regional Caribbean coordination for the drama of marijuana decriminalization. “Yes, we can”!

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt a regional community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to transform the societal engines of Caribbean society (economics, security and governance), regarding the whole drug eco-system. As related in a previous blog-commentary:

… the Go Lean book asserts that every community has bad actors, and with a more liberal-progressive attitude towards a once-illegal drug, community attitudes must be paramount. There must be “new guards” to assuage any threats from this practice on society. This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13) that claims:

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices of criminology and penology to assuage continuous threats against public safety. The Federation must allow for facilitations of detention for [domestic and foreign] convicted felons of federal crimes, and should over-build prisons to house trustees from other jurisdictions.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

So legalizing marijuana … will be about more than just managing change, it will also be about managing risks. The Go Lean book relates that managing risk is more than just “One Act”, there is lengthy, engaged process (Page 76):

• Education
• Mentoring
• Monitoring
• Mitigation
• Licensing
• Coordination

For this delicate matter of marijuana decriminalization, issues abound, in all facets of society. There are economic, security and governing complexities that must be considered. In  fact, these issues were addressed in many previous Go Lean blog-commentaries. Consider this list here:

The Go Lean book and roadmap stresses that preparing the Caribbean region for change is possible, but heavy-lifting. All the societal engines will have to be reformed and transformed. Yet still, this is conceivable, believable and achievable.

As related in the foregoing news articles, the First World or Advanced Democracies are advancing – pushing – towards legal or decriminalized marijuana use.

Ready or not, here they come!

… vacationing  tourists …

… cruise passengers.

… students studying abroad.

… repatriated citizens.

… Ouch!

These descriptions – First World or Advanced Democracies – apply to the US, Canada and many Western European nations (think: England, The Netherlands, France, Germany, etc.), our tourism target markets. These descriptors do not apply to any Caribbean member-states. All 30 countries and territories (islands or coastal states) are flirting with Failed-State status. Adding recreational drug use into the Caribbean mix may only be a recipe for disaster. And yet, the change “cometh” anyway.

Let’s get ready! Let’s confederate, cooperate and collaborate to install the empowerments to allow us to better manage Caribbean affairs. We urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. It is a viable plan to make our  homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Appendix VIDEO – Rick James – Mary Jane – https://youtu.be/PrPNwLuk0zQ

Published on Oct 16, 2015

Rick James – Mary Jane (Video)

• Category: People & Blogs
• License: Standard YouTube License
• Music: “Mary Jane” by Rick James Listen ad-free with YouTube Red