Medical cannabis soon to be legalized in Barbados

Island Attorney General Dale Marshall, announced that the on medical cannabis would be tabled in Parliament today, and debated at the end of the month. Although he gave no details of the authority envisaged, Marshall insisted that Barbados was not behind in the growing sector as it was better to get it right rather than hurry and get it wrong.

«We're committed to using cannabis for medicinal purposes because you have to go where the science takes you, but there will always be resistance,» he said during the press conference. «Our main problem will always be the feeling that if you can use marijuana for medical purposes, you can also use it for recreational purposes, and I think that's what the religious community is concerned about. We've made it clear that, under our international obligations, we can do medicine or science, but not recreation. ”

To date, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis and the U.S. Virgin Islands have announced plans or passed laws governing the cultivation of a cannabis industry. As of last month, St. Vincent and the Grenadines began issuing licenses to local and international companies for the commercial cultivation of medical cannabis. In 2018, Antigua and Barbuda introduced the Cannabis Bill 2018 to Parliament to regulate the production, prescription and supply of medical cannabis to patients and to allow Rastafarians to possess, cultivate and supply cannabis. In St. Kitts and Nevis, on July 31, the National Assembly voted to decriminalize the use of small amounts of cannabis for private and religious purposes, replacing some criminal penalties with fines and community service.

Her bill will be debated in Parliament on August 30. Legalization would enable Mia Mollet, the Prime Minister of Barbados, to realize her plan to make the island not just a producer-exporter of cannabis, but a medical tourism destination.