Grenada’s Agriculture Minister, Lennox Andrews, has announced that the Government plans to introduce legislation to decriminalize the use of cannabis for both religious and recreational purposes before the end of the second half of 2025.
“We were hoping to have this done before the end of the first quarter, but right now I can safely say that it will be done before the end of the first half,” said Andrews in a recent statement.
The proposed legislation will closely resemble a bill introduced by the former New National Party (NNP) in 2021, which was not passed after the Parliament was dissolved ahead of the June 2022 general elections. The new bill aims to legalize cannabis for personal use and religious practices, marking a significant shift in the country’s stance on cannabis.
That Bill, which was laid in the Lower House for first reading by Grenada’s former Agriculture Minister, Peter David, sought to decriminalize the use of marijuana and allow for anyone over the age of 18 to have up to 28 grams in his or her possession for personal use by amending the Drug Abuse (prevention and control) Act.
The amendment as proposed back in 2021, would have allowed the use of cannabis by Rastafarians in places of worship and people who have attained the age of 18 years to produce, supply or offer to supply small amounts of cannabis.
There were six amendments and one insertion and the main objectives of the amendments were to allow anyone over 18 to be in possession of 28 grams of marijuana and to allow each homeowner over the age of 18 to grow up to five trees.
Rastafarians will be able to use the herb solely for religious purposes as a sacrament in adherence to the Rastafarian faith and at a place of worship.
During Grenada’s 2022 election campaign, the then-Opposition National Democratic Congress promised to legalize the possession and use of cannabis. However, in January 2023 Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said Grenada will focus on medicinal marijuana or commercial uses of marijuana.
“We also recognize as well that it’s a misallocation of resources to criminalize a plant that has the levels of commercial and medicinal uses that I think everyone has accepted it has,” he said in his first media interview for 2023.
He also explained that the intention is for a regulated system where law enforcement is not arresting and charging people for the personal use of cannabis.
“We don’t want to keep on wasting state resources arresting people for a spliff and that sort of thing, you know it makes no sense and the police are better off doing proper policing rather than chasing someone for a spliff and so on,” he said.
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