St Kitts-Nevis moves towards decriminalising ganja

| 21/02/2019 | 44 Comments

Cayman News Service(CNS): The government of the Caribbean country St Kitts and Nevis has announced plans to create a framework for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes and the decriminalisation of small amounts of the drug for recreational use. The move comes after government largely accepted the findings of a national commission on the use of ganja in the island federation. The commission advised that the Drugs Act be amended to enable the use of cannabis and its derivatives for medicinal and scientific purposes and to pave the way for local cultivation and production.

The penalty for possession of less than 15 grams of cannabis or five plants is also expected to be reduced to a ticketable offence without a criminal record and the court will be able to expunge the criminal records of people convicted in the past of possession of that amount or less. The changes are expected to pave the way for gradual decriminalisation and to create a local industry in hemp and related products.

Changes are gradually happening in the region when it comes to the legalisation of ganja, with Jamaica poised to be a leader in the field, as it has already decriminalised the drug and begun to shape a medical industry. A recent article in The Gleaner detailed the dizzying diversity of strains in the country, which experts say will lead to a wide variety of medicinal use from the different plants.

The Cayman Islands Government legalised the use of medical cannabis oil and other tinctures in 2016 but it has made no moves to pave the way for the cultivation of what is increasingly seen as a miracle plant when it comes to medicinal uses. The government has also made no moves to address the illegality of consumption, which is increasingly unusual even in countries where possession remains illegal.

Nevertheless, around the region and in North America the march away from prohibition continues. The drug is now legal, though well regulated, throughout Canada, while 31 states in the US have legalised medical marijuana, and nine already allow recreational use.

Bermuda, too, has legalised its medical use, and the personal possession of small amounts of ganja is no longer a criminal offence. At the end of last year the government there also announced plans to begin medical marijuana production.

Meanwhile, Antigua and Barbuda is in the process of drafting the necessary laws to legalise both  recreational and medical marijuana sales there.

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Comments (44)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Eagle 20EW with Myclobutanil is a very common agricultural fungicidal pesticide used on a wide variety of edible crops (grapes, apples, spinach for example), and still wrongly used on a growing number of “legalized” cannabis operations in the USA and Canada (as well as Chinese-sourced tobacco products) – and probably Jamaica. Unfortunately, the EPA guidelines for Dow are geared towards acceptable levels of edible residue and not at all towards other consumption methods.

    When Eagle 20 is combusted past its boiling point at 201’C(401’F), highly toxic hydrogen cyanide gas is released. FYI: the average disposable butane lighter can produce temperatures of 450’C, and that gas and all of it’s contents are inhaled into the human lungs. There have not been any evaluations done of the human impact of combusting Eagle 20 crops, nor any US Federal intervention into “state-by-state” policies on legalization.

    Cannabis crops can also be “laced” with a long list of other dangerous yield-maximizing chemicals like Imidacloprid, Avermectin, Etoxazole, Bifenazate – all poisonous. Rest assured that drug cartels have zero sensitivity to the longterm health of their consumers, nor feel any obligation to tell the truth, or are they compelled in any way to provide product safety literature.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Sounds great, I’m moving to a country to plant it and sell it to you all at a low price. But remember you have to smoke it in non-public areas, so you don’t offend the people who don’t like it. Remember tobacco laws the same thing goes for ganja. I don’t see any trouble in the future because people only steal fruits and vegetables here. They won’t do it where I’m planning to go and grow. I will have walls and tight security. I will use my own fishing boat and rig it to hold ganja in the compartments. I will pay customs duty the same as tobacco and still be cheaper. Can I bring it on 20 trips per month until I can buy another boat? With tourists coming here for medicinal use? I will be a millionaire in a couple of years, say 2-5 years. Sounds like a win-win. One company is all we need no need for competition. What say we all?

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  3. Anonymous says:

    Soon come – that’s Dart’s plans for the site acquisition in the Brac…

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  4. Mikey spicey says:

    If I don’t smoke I don’t wanna be productive I enjoy working and getting things done while HIGH

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Marijuana won’t be legal here until those money hungry politicians draft the law with enough expensive hoops to jump through therefore making it a market for only the wealthy to profit from it.

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    • Anonymous says:

      This is the sad truth but we WILL NOT make this happen. Believe when this is said its said for all folks here.

      Not paying for the high priced snake oil and opium-laced government medical buds!!

  6. Anonymous says:

    This is entirely in line with 2018 Caricom recommendations so expect to see more. St Vincent & Grenadines already decriminalised last December.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    We should decriminalize local cultivation for personal use, and possession <1oz, keep the public consumption ban, increase the punitive civil fine, for an equivalent fee – pardon those with small prior possession criminal records, and step up the militancy on marine enforcement.. ie. within sovereign territorial waters, 3x Channel-16 hails, 3x clear warning bow burst shots with 0.50cal, and then a sinking or disabling shot. We can't be turning a blind eye to the transshipment economies anymore – they are too socially corrosive with untabulated cost.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yes. AND CIG should package and tax it and with a majority of profits going toward education.

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      • Anonymous says:

        You mad…we not buying NO form of weed for ci govt who lock up man in the past and still currently. Never!! Learn that bobo.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Evolve for the betterment of your fellow humans. Look fondly at the past, but don’t stare.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Folks the worse part about ganga is that people are lacing it with other stuff. They are calling this K2.
    People are dropping dead from K2.
    Stop smoking this bad stuff that is ruining your health.
    Cook healthy and drink water and you will be further ahead.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Spoken like someone who’s never had any personal experience with the plant. K2 is a synthetic version that has a legal loophole and as such is prevalent where the natural plant is illegal. Legalizing and regulating would allow personal growers to ensure their plant is free from harmful additives.

      Gone through lbs for personal use in my lifetime and haven’t had any laced herb.

      It costs money to lace. Which dealer is trying to decrease their margin? That’s an old myth like people putting glass in it.. you seriously believe that?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Third world crop control is not supervised by the FDA. Controlling mildew, mites and other pests consists of laborers repeatedly dousing one of 59 different pesticides (many of them illegal in USA) onto and under the leaves to the point of saturation in an effort to maximize yield and secure the investment. When remaining alive is the motivator, laborers do a pretty good job. Kerosene is one of the most common among third world smokable and snortable crops, including everything from the finest Cuban cigars to “uncut” cocaine. So, if you fantasize that your ganja has no chemical “lace” to it, brother/sister, you have no idea how agricultural industries work, or credible insight into the post-harvest chain of production.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Hello, are aware of all the poison that your precious FDA supervises and approves for human consumption???

    • Anonymous says:

      Well that wouldn’t be a risk if folk could grow their own would it?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Stick to coke.

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  9. Anonymous says:

    Marijuana.cannabis, or ganga is a drug that leads to brain changes and psychosis. It is not safe.
    Go ahead and delude yourselves just because ganga makes you feel good.
    Alcohol is bad too. Alcohol has immense calories to make us fat and it kills brain cells.
    Say no to drugs and alcohol.

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    • Anonymous says:

      have you ever read the side effects of those little advil pills you guzzle down whenever you have a headache? stop telling grown people what they can and can’t put in their body, history has proven it to be a huge failure. educate people and allow them to make inform choices, thats all you can do.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Chronic acetaminophen/paracetamol/or any NSAIDS use while drinking or for hangovers can lead to liver failure and death. It’s among the cautions on the label packs that few bother to read. It’s not because those products are necessarily dangerous on their own, it’s because of the negative synergistic effect of the two together, and the likelihood of irreversible liver scarring. Dear friend of mine died this way in Cayman.

        Btw, THC and alcohol are also a magic deadly combination found present in 80% of all fatal NHTSA car crashes where blood testing was done. Fatal accidents in Colorado between 2013-16 were up 40% – alcohol related were up 17%, THC related up 145%. It might be higher, but coroners had discretion on whether to test for THC in fatal accidents. 14% also decided to have a child in the car.

        If these are the choices of grown people, maybe society should be stepping in and start telling people what to do?

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  10. Anonymous says:

    meanwhile in cayman…..dancing is banned on sundays……..zzzzzzz

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    • Anonymous says:

      Legend has it that there’s an old 1967 calendar handing in the LA, and someone forgot to change it out.

      As it goes to show, no one is in there is quick to make any changes so it remains to this day.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Let’s look at this for a second. Cayman Islands government wants to destroy acres of marine coral, important marine coral that benefits an abundance of marine life which is one of the main driving forces behind our tourism with, no real predictable outcome for a better future for both the people who call Cayman home nor our marine life.

    At the same time the Cayman Islands government refuses to decriminalise ganja for recreational use and local cultivation which would help this country more than that concrete eye sore of a dock they want to build.

    One choice benefits the entire country while the other benefits only a select few. I’m sure rational thinking people on here will see that keeping marijuana illegal while raping and killing our ocean is completely an individual agenda driven by greed and corruption.

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    • Anonymous says:

      How would local cultivation of the plant help the country?

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      • Void says:

        1) allowing local growing of cannabis, as we do for tobacco, allows your people to ensure that the plant they consume – whether by tea, vapor or smoke – is free from pesticides.

        1b) you can steam or fry a fish. Frying is obviously 5x worse for you yet still legal.

        2) like the tobacco cigar farm we have here, there is potential for jobs, sales, tourism and exports. Colorado has made millions in tax revenue from tourism that has been put toward building schools.

        2b) this creates a supply that satisfies the demand. As such, less money enters the black market. This causes less incentive for smuggling, and a huge hit to drug lord’s profits. We keep the money in our economy.

        3) this reduces a significant amount of demand on MANY police and court resources. Do I have to list it? Arresting and trial over a spliff?

        4) we have been fighting cannabis consumption in Cayman since the law was inacted 40+ years ago, while allowing smoking of tobacco during government time. It is still prevalent this day. This war against a natural plant is futile.

        5) minimum wage in Westmorland is about 200 usd/month and agriculture is a main industry. You think they will stop trying to fulfill the demand? We are literally fighting against ourselves over a plant.

        6) legalizing it removes the stigma, places it behind a regulated counter, and that reduces the curious teen’s interest. Canada has legalized it and so far teen use has slightly declined.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Why do you assume it would be free of pesticides?!? You can’t have an outdoor crop in the tropics without them – esp in the Cayman Islands. Sadly, anyone who says otherwise either isn’t a farmer, or is lying to themselves.

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          • Anonymous says:

            So all the local produce in Kirk’s are full of pesticides and/or harmful soil additives then? Noted.

            Seriously though It’s quite possible to grow a plant here organically.

    • Anonymous says:

      I wish I could LOVE this damn comment. Our politicians are like retarded rednecks scratching their dirty balls and spitting out tobacco out of the side of their crusty mouths. We always have the best opportunities to step into the 21st century and really try to be a leader in any kind of industry outside of Finance and Tourism but not us. Nope. We like sitting in the same old rancid shit of a society. I know we not going do any better but I keep hoping but watch when this election come this time around. I sorry for them but I am going 100% forward to remove 99% of them useless waste bags. We need better for our children and for their futures. You know how much money we could be making as a country if we would free up on gambling, cannabis and nightlife in Cayman?! So pissed at the close mindedness on this island.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    Great, so when may we expect to achieve the same recognition of maturity. Waiting? ME2

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  13. Anonymous says:

    Meanwhile as a Caymanian living in Canada I am pleased to report that the country has not fallen into disarray since legalizing cannabis in October
    Crime hasn’t significantly changed
    The streets aren’t suddenly abandoned due to rampant antisocial potsmoking behavior

    But of course the Cayman Islands Government is going to let this one pass us by
    Because none of them have the balls to actually stand up and propose anything
    Their entire process of governing is “Don’t shake the boat, Cayman is kinda okay and we should all just enjoy our salaries and titles”

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    • Ironshore says:

      Thank you. I can smoke nicotine cigarettes on government compounds.. but let me relax with a spliff instead of a litre of alcohol.

      “but you shouldn’t need to take any drug to feel okay”

      Just cool. Caffeine comes from a plant we brew yet HODs run on it. Cannabis tea is no different yet we view it as the devils lettuce.. Why?

      Do you not know how much money is in the alcohol, tobacco, paper and pharmaceutical companies combined? Cannabis is a 100% natural competition to those industry. Of course they can buy political influence.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Cannabis takes away any ambition to do anything.
        Cool chill and Irie are ok sentiments so long as someone else does the work to feed and house you.
        In a society which already has a “relaxed” attitude towards effort and achievement, this is a dangerous path to follow.

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        • Anonymous says:

          So poisonous alcohol makes you productive? Why allow one but not the other?

          I show up to work sober and relax after work with a joint or cup of tea instead of hitting up the bar to DUI. I have no worries about my bills being paid at the end of the month. Afterwards I do some at-home exercises, clean and get stuff done around the house all the same.

          It’s the person, not the plant.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Wrong. Many are motivated by it. It depends on the person and the variety.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Time, place and responsible use my friend.

    • Anonymous says:

      Canadians are civilized people. Give it to the savages on this island and they won’t be able to handle it.

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