Both the government and police in St Vincent and the Grenadines have reacted angrily to complaints by Barbadian prime minister Owen Arthur, about an alleged lack of urgency on the part of Kingstown to prevent Vincentian-grown marijuana from flooding Barbados. Speaking in parliament in Bridgetown on Tuesday, Prime Minister Arthur accused the governing Unity Labour Party of Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of inadequate responses to an estimated eighty percent of the cannabis arriving in Barbados. Dr Gonsalves was in Dominica for the OECS Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Heads of Government summit, when he refuted the allegations, retorting angrily that Owen Arthur was "dead wrong". Disappointed Gonsalves "I am disappointed and saddened by the claims of the prime minister of Barbados and I will be writing to him at once, even before returning to my office. He has insulted the government and people of St Vincent and the Grenadines as well as their prime minister" the Vincentian leader told Barbados-based Caribbean journalist Ricky Singh. Ralph Gonsalves labelled the claim blatantly false, a position supported by the top brass of the St Vincent and the Grenadines police force. Deputy Police Commissioner Cyril Doyle has explained that marijuana-related arrests are made in St Vincent on a daily basis. Police Explanation "We have been doing our best to control the flow of marijuana coming out of St Vincent but because of our different islands, it is difficult for our coast guard alone to be patrolling to be able to catch up with all the people who are moving in and out" Deputy Doyle said, labelling the Owen Arthur statement unfair. The authorities have an initial difficulty of penetrating the mountainous areas used by islanders growing marijuana - the number of farmers growing the drug was at one stage reported to be an estimated two thousand five hundred, most of them aged between fifteen and forty-five. Vincentian police try to fight the trade but do appear sympathetic to people they suggest are responding to economic circumstances rather than having a purely criminal intent. "I wouldn't classify them as criminals, they are more opportunists" Deputy Doyle said while acknowledging that they are engaging in a criminal offence. It's probably that kind of approach that has Bridgetown worried that Vincentian cannabis continues to access Barbadian shores, and posing what Prime Minister Arthur has described as a major threat to his country's national security. Source: bbccaribbean.com