Misuse of Drugs Advisory Council minutes (FOI)Misuse of Drugs Advisory Council minutes (FOI)
Produced by the Freedom of Information officeAuthored by Government of Jersey and published on
08 September 2020.Prepared internally, no external costs.
Request
Please could you provide the minutes of the meetings of the Misuse of Drugs Advisory Council since the 79th meeting held in July 2017, specifically those where cannabis was discussed.
Response
Please find below copies of the requested minutes. Please note a meeting was also held on 11 June 2020 however the minutes have not as yet been approved and therefore cannot be released at this time.
Redactions have been applied to the minutes where required under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. Justification for such redactions are provided within the detail below.
Articles applied
Article 25 Personal information
(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.
(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –
(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and
(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.
(3) In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted.
Article 35 Formulation and development of policies
Information is qualified exempt information if it relates to the formulation or development of any proposed policy by a public authority.
Justification
Article 35 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test is required to be undertaken by the Scheduled Public Authority (SPA). The SPA has reviewed the balancing arguments in relation to public interest favouring release versus public interest favouring withholding.
Although there is a need for transparency, accountability, financial and good decision making by public authorities, the formulation of policy and the necessary decision making process in relation to licensing guidelines for the cultivation and / or processing of cannabis and derived products are ongoing. Release of information at this time would not reflect finalised information and could be detrimental to the process.
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