Dominica decriminalizes cannabis

The Parliament of Dominica, the Caribbean island between Guadeloupe and Martinique, has passed a bill to decriminalize cannabis.

Lawmakers have passed an amendment to the Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 2020, decriminalizing possession of 28 grams of cannabis for adults aged 18 and over. Existing cannabis-related convictions will be removed from criminal records, and residents will be allowed to grow up to 3 plants at home.

The Caribbean in the process of reforming their cannabis legislation, with pressure to decriminalize or legalize, for example, the Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

«There is a different view today than there was yesterday for people who possess small amounts of cannabis for personal and religious purposes and so, Mr. President, we are taking a different approach to decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana and clearing the record of people in compliance with possession of 28 grams.» a declared Minister of National Security and Home Affairs, Rayburn Blackmoore, in introducing the legislation.

Dominica also appears to be on track to regulate the medical use of cannabis, as Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit stated over the summer that the national government «will move forward on the issue of developing a revenue stream and foreign exchange earnings from a marijuana industry,» adding «I will report further on this aspect of the policy in due course.»

«It's all part of a justice reform program,» Skerrit said on his weekly TV show this week, and indicated that, for now, the rules are only about decriminalization, not full legalization.

«This has not been presented to Parliament to “free the pot”, as they say. It's about not prosecuting people for possession of 28 grams or less. It's a progressive move by the government. And the next step is to look at cannabis from a medicinal point of view, and the broader legislative agenda on that will come later,» he added.