At a press briefing on July 30, 2019 Commerce Minister Bradley Felix — the Saint Lucia government’s point man on cannabis — announced the formation of a Cannabis Commission, mandated to: “Consult and provide advice on the design of a legislative and regulatory framework for cannabis.” The commission is made of representatives from the ministries of Commerce, Agriculture, Health, Home Affairs and Equity and from the Attorney General’s office, Iyanola Council for the Advancement of Rastafari, Leader of the Opposition, Invest Saint Lucia, Cannabis Movement, Christian Council and the National Youth Council.
From November- December 2019, the commission hosted a total of seven town halls in the communities of Babonneau, Castries, Dennery, Soufriere, Vieux Fort, Anse La Raye and Gros Islet. At the final town hall meeting on December 9, Commission Chairman Michael Gordon QC told the STAR: “I think the public is almost unanimously in favour of legalizing. The real concern is what regulation you put in place. The commission itself has not come to a conclusion but we hope to do so very quickly.”
At last week’s House of Assembly sitting, Minister Bradley Felix provided an update on the situation. He disclosed that some of the commission’s economic findings were that the criminalization of cannabis— which costs $3.6 million— has been ineffective in reducing related use.
“The main findings in the report indicated that the framework would include age limits, public health education programs to raise awareness of the associated risks, restrictions on public smoking and restriction on advertising.
“The economic benefits: create employment, reduce unemployment to 18.2 %, increase government revenue, expand export portfolio, reduce trade deficit to 17%, possible contribution of $83 million to the local economy and possible increase size of the economy by 9.8%,” he said.
The minister indicated that a presentation of the report to cabinet “will be done very shortly.”
