Learn how lessening the barriers for small farmers while raising them for large companies can help to steer legal cannabis markets in a more sustainable and equitable direction based on principles of community empowerment, social justice, fair(er) trade and sustainable development.

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Canadian weed companies have their eye on a massive prize: the lucrative medical and adult cannabis markets that are emerging around the world. Much of the hype around corporate cannabis is linked to the acquisition of lands and smaller growing operations internationally. The selling point is that cannabis can be grown overseas and exported to meet demand in Canada (and eventually the US), but also that Canadian companies position themselves as suppliers in emerging local markets. Lobbying to impact national legislation, supporting criminalization of traditional producers, and moving into remote territories with plans to implement plantation style economies are just some of the critiqued practices of Canada’s emerging cannabis sector.

More than 25 persons representing cannabis growers and consumers from several communities throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines met at Victoria Park to discuss government’s announcement to legalise medical cannabis. The meeting, which was called by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Cannabis Revival Committee (SVGCRC) was presided over by Junior Spirit Cottle, who is also the committee’s president and Vice President Ajit Duncan. The meeting looked at the restructuring of the organisation to enable it to operate more effectively. The SVGCRC has been calling for alternative livelihood for growers, medical cannabis and decriminalisation, as well as the legal right of Rastas to use cannabis as a religious sacrament.

St Vincent and the Grenadines Minister of Agriculture, Saboto Caesar is calling for Caricom and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to take a collective approach to the development of standards governing the negotiation of cannabis trade agreements for their member states. Caesar said small Caribbean states should no longer be competing against each other.  He said if the Caribbean as a region intends to fully realise the opportunity that the fast-growing cannabis industry presents, it must develop a unified approach and ensures a seat at the international table.  (See also: T&T riding last wave in $m marijuana train)

Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Irwin LaRocque has warned the region against trading cannabis through member states. He made the comments at a press briefing, ahead of the 40th Regular Meeting of Heads of Government. LaRocque cited the Regional Commission on Marijuana, established in 2014, and the subsequent report presented in 2018. He said the report is the basis upon which member states will determine how they treat the matter at a national level, since it takes into consideration aspects including the medical, social and religious, as well as the impact on young people.  

The decriminalization and regulation of cannabis has been occurring in many jurisdictions in the United States – but also closer to home and more significantly in Jamaica. While unable to directly compete with these long-established producers, the Windward Islands are home to their own significant, albeit illegal, cannabis economy. A pressing task facing the cash strapped governments of the Windward Islands, particularly St Vincent and St Lucia is to capitalize on the current climate of drug reform and adopt creative decriminalization policies which will ensure that they are able to transition the employment, income generation and value added opportunities from the ganja economy to the legal economy.

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Andre De Caires of  the Cannabis Movement of St. Lucia is not satisfied with the pace at which the recently formed Cannabis Commission is working. The commission’s mandate is to “consult and provide advice on the design of a legislative and regulatory framework for cannabis”.  A workshop in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, facilitated by the Transnational Institute brought together activists and farmers’ representatives from across the region. Discussions centred on management of the cannabis industry in the face of the enormous influx of investment money from cannabis companies “that do not exactly share the interest of the farmers, and the development of the islands as their first priority”.

Policy changes over the past five years or so have dramatically reshaped the global cannabis market. Not only has there been an unprecedented boom in medical markets, but following policy shifts in several jurisdictions a growing number of countries are also preparing for legal regulation of non-medical use. Such moves look set to bring a clear range of benefits in terms of health and human rights. As this groundbreaking Report, highlights, however, there are also serious concerns about the unfolding market dynamics.

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St Vincent’s Medicinal Marijuana industry is a go. Over 30 licences have been approved by the Medicinal Cannabis Authority (MCA) for the cultivation, development and export of medicinal marijuana products. The MCA has approved licences for eight local farmers’ producer cooperatives with an aggregated membership of over 100 traditional cultivators; traditional cultivators of cannabis who applied individually; three non-traditional local farmers; and 10 companies with the directorship of nationals from the OECS, CARICOM, North America, Europe and Africa. MCA said based on the applications under review it projects that by September an additional 200 traditional cultivators will obtain cultivation licences. (See also: Vincy ‘high’ | Acres Agricultural Canada receives 300-acre cannabis license)

The President of the Cannabis Revival Committee (CRC) in St Vincent and Grenadines, Junior “Spirit” Cottle, is urging farmers not to accept anything less than EC$300 (EC dollar = US$0.37 cents) for a pound after a locally-based medicinal cannabis company was offering US$50 a pound. “We are not saying we are not going higher. But we are not going below that. And, under the medical industry, we're looking for more than that. We will be negotiating but, as it stands now, under the amnesty, it mustn't go below that,” Cottle said. The CRC called on traditional cultivators of cannabis “to be on the lookout for some foreign investors who want to offer them lower than the unofficial EC$300 minimum which they have been receiving for one pound of cannabis”. (See also: Reject $50 ganja offer — MP)

Los cambios políticos ocurridos en los últimos cinco años han reconfigurado dramáticamente el mercado del cannabis. No solo ha habido un boom sin precedentes en el mercado medicinal sino que, siguiendo los cambios políticos en muchas jurisdicciones, un número creciente de países también se están preparando para la regulación legal del uso no medicinal. Tales movimientos son impulsados por el reconocimiento de la inefectividad probada de las políticas represivas durante décadas, que han acarreado graves consecuencias negativas y apuntan a proporcionar un amplio rango de beneficios en términos de la salud y los derechos humanos.

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The Position Paper "For inclusive business models, well designed laws and fair(er) trade options for small-scale traditional cannabis farmers” produced by The Fair(er) Trade Cannabis Working Group aims to contribute to the debate on finding sustainable and realistic solutions to the challenges posed by the developing cannabis industry, with a special focus on traditional and small scale farmers.

The St Vincent and the Grenadines Parliament has amended legislation that would make smoking two ounces (56 grammes) or less of marijuana a ticketable offence, if the offender admits to the crime. Under the new law, a person who is in possession of up to two ounces of marijuana cannot be arrested, cannot be jailed, and would not get a criminal record as a result. The law also makes it legal for persons to use the drug in their home or at places of Rastafarian worship. If the new law gets the approval of lawmakers, possession of up to two ounces of marijuana is still a criminal offence, but the maximum penalty that the court can impose is EC$500 dollars. (See also: Contradictions in new ganja law — Friday)

St Vincent and the Grenadines has become the first Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) member to pass legislation allowing for the decriminalisation of marijuana for medicinal and scientific purposes. Parliament approved two pieces of legislation that also allows for the production of the crop under a tightly controlled framework. Agriculture Minister Saboto Caesar, who piloted the measure, said that it would end many of the sufferings people had endured in the illegal marijuana trade. Lawmakers also approved the Medical Marijuana Amnesty Bill amidst calls by the Opposition and some members of the Rastafarian for the Ralph Gonsalves Government to go the full length and legalise small portions of the plant for recreational use.

The St Vincent and the Grenadines parliament will meet for the first reading of three pieces of legislation as the government continues its efforts to establish a medical marijuana industry in the country. Agriculture and Forestry Minister, Saboto Caesar will table The Medicinal Cannabis Industry Bill, The Cannabis Cultivation (Amnesty) Bill, and The Permitted Use of Cannabis for Religious Purpose Bill, a few months after the Ralph Gonsalves administration had indicated a desire to have the relevant laws passed by March. The main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) has said that the government must ensure that any medical marijuana industry established in St Vincent benefits the citizens. (See also: Medical marijuana bills reach Parliament)

Cannabis guru Ras Iyah V says the time has come for developing nations, including those of the Caribbean, to collectively lobby the US to strike cannabis from its Controlled Substances Act. “It is important for Jamaica to align itself with Third World countries, starting with the Caribbean, because you have all of these Caribbean countries that will be embarking on a cannabis programme, who have gone as far as amending their laws to be establishing an industry in their respective countries.” St Vincent and the Grenadines Minister of Agriculture, Saboto Caesar appealed for CARICOM and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States to partner in the development of standards governing the negotiation of cannabis trade agreements for their member states.

Two years after the presentation of the 2018 CARICOM report “Waiting to Exhale - Safeguarding our future through responsible socio-legal policy on Marijuana” at the CND, this years’ side event the organizers would like to share insights on progress made, regarding the public policies on cannabis and the development of a medical cannabis industry in the Caribbean region.