ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada– The Grenada government Wednesday said it would hold its final public consultation on the decriminalization of marijuana on Friday as it moves ahead with plans to amend the existing Drug Act as part of the initiative.
“After this Friday, we will go back to the Cabinet to indicate to the Cabinet what the response was,” Agriculture Minister Peter David told reporters at the weekly post Cabinet news conference.
“I think….there are different views to the legislation, I must say though we have not received any negative responses on it and this points in a particular direction,” David said as he updated reporters on the bill which was laid in the House of Representatives for first reading in November 2021.
“So, I will go to the Cabinet next and indicate to the Cabinet the results of these consultations. We did have a round table with some of the stakeholders, so we have a pretty good picture of where our society is on this.
“So I think the next step is for Parliament to have the second reading, where we will deal with the matter there, finalize it there and then move it on to the senate, and then all of the stakeholders in it put their mechanism in place,” said the Agriculture Minister.
The ruling New National Party (NNP) of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell controls all 15 seats in the Parliament. Before the legislation was tabled, the government had appointed a three-member committee to identify the best way Grenada could enforce aspects of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Marijuana Commission Report.
The committee comprised the Health Minister, Nickolas Steele; David and the Attorney General, Dia Forrester.
When he tabled the legislation last November, David said Grenada would not focus on the cultivation of cannabis as part of its initial approach but instead adopt a strategy where the first step would be decriminalization for personal and religious use.
“The first step is not going to be for mass production; the first step will deal with the criminal justice issue. Meaning many young people have been criminalized or have received criminal records because of possession of small quantities. We are going to have a national discussion on small quantities.”
However, during the various consultations following the tabling of the Bill, several participants felt that Grenada needs to legalize marijuana for industrial and commercial use and not decriminalize it only for religious and personal use.
In December 2020, in a public meeting, Prime Minister Mitchell said Grenada would develop its model for cultivating, distribution, supplying, and use of marijuana as it moves forward to enforce an aspect of the CARICOM Marijuana Commission’s report.
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