Experts: Legal cannabis can spur Caribbean economies

Excerpt from NEWSDAY

ENTREPRENEURS eager to enter the marijuana business are calling on the Government to bring legislation which will allow them to do so without fear of being arrested.

The Cannabis Control Bill, aimed at legitimising marijuana retail businesses in Trinidad and Tobago, has been a topic of discussion since the amendment to the Dangerous Drugs Act in December 2019.

The amendments allowed for the possession of up to 30 grammes of marijuana and growing four female plants for every adult in a home.

The bill was sent to a joint select committee (JSC) led by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi in 2019, which was initially due to report to Parliament in February last year, but there have been some setbacks.

Chairman of the legislative committee and member of the JSC Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat told Sunday Newsday last Thursday the bill is expected to be laid in Parliament sometime after March as the JSC is still accepting stakeholders’ suggestions.

Sunday Newsday spoke with two entrepreneurs, who asked not to be named since marijuana sales and products with cannabis are still illegal. The owner of Haze Bites said she began selling marijuana-laced desserts, but stopped using her cannabis culinary skills after reading the legislation carefully.

“I hope that sales become legal soon. I thought it was legal when the decriminalisation happened, so I started selling. Then when I read the law, I stopped. One of my concerns is that they don’t make it difficult for small business to get involved.”

Marijuana activist and certified cannabis expert Marcus Ramkissoon had the same request.

“I want a fair market with no monopoly. Portugal gave one licence to a foreign company. I want no licence restrictions.”