ATTORNEY General Ryan Pinder. Photo: Eric Rose/BIS
By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
ATTORNEY General Ryan Pinder said draft legislation to establish a medical cannabis industry in the country should be released for consultation in about a month’s time.
But before then, he said his office within the next two weeks intends to make a presentation to Cabinet that will explain the legal framework for cannabis regulation.
Mr Pinder made the comments when asked for an update on marijuana legislation during the weekly press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister Thursday.
“I can let you know that all of the pieces of legislation have been drafted along with the regulations and the respective orders," he said, "and the legislation encompasses a number of amendments in a number of areas such as the Pharmacy Act has to be amended because you deal with dispensary items and all of that, so we made all of those amendments in draft form.”
“We've prepared a presentation now that will go to Cabinet within the next two to three weeks I’d say that will explain the framework of what we’re looking to do with respect to the regulation of medicinal cannabis and then seek Cabinet’s approval to go to public consultation which will naturally be rather extensive on such an important piece of legislative framework and that consultation will happen and will launch probably in a month or a month and a half.”
Cannabis legislation has been on the table for years without success, despite several neighbouring countries already having passed such laws.
In June, Mr Pinder said the Davis administration intended to advance comprehensive legislation to regulate a medical cannabis industry and a separate framework for industrial hemp.
At the time, he said this would be done in the first six months of the fiscal year, meaning by the end of 2022.
However, that did not happen, and it is still not clear when marijuana legislation will be tabled in Parliament.
Meanwhile, as it relates to the Gender Violence Bill, Mr Pinder said it remains under review.
“This week, I was able to review a near final version of it. I provided my comments to it and submitted those comments on review of that piece of legislation which will go back to the Ministry of Social Services and the respective NGO groups,” he added.
“We have been consulting with the respective gender NGO groups all through this process and they have been giving their input and so hopefully, that bill will be in near final form in a matter of weeks.”
This comes after former Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson earlier this month urged the government to pass the bill, which she said was first drafted ten years ago.
However, Social Services Minister Obie Wilchcombe recently told The Tribune the government would not rush the bill to Parliament.
He suggested that consultation with the Church is needed before the bill can be tabled in the House of Assembly.
Comments
Topdude 1 year, 8 months ago
Please stop following those other countries. Marijuana is bad news. The next thing is that they will want to legalize hard drugs. Marijuana is bad, bad news. Stop.
hrysippus 1 year, 8 months ago
As a proscribed pharmaceutical for a heart condition I take an aspirin once daily. I fully understand that people who take aspirin have a mortality rate of 14 per 100,000 . I also fully understand that proscribed medical mariuana has a mortality rate of 0 per 100,000. Please ignore the ignorant opinions of those who also think refined sugar is harmless and should be given to children.
hrysippus 1 year, 8 months ago
My post should read "prescribed" and not "proscribed.. Just for the educated..
Topdude 1 year, 8 months ago
This is sheer nonsense. Marijuana is a gateway drug to hard drugs. You can call it medical the bottom line is that is a known addictive substance. Ask the drug addicts and they will tell you their addiction started with marijuana. Now to make it legal and put the medical cover on it is to open the door for this drug.
hrysippus 1 year, 8 months ago
This is sheer nonsense. Refined white sugar is a gateway drug to hard drugs. You can call it medical the bottom line is that is a known addictive substance. Ask the drug addicts and they will tell you their addiction started with refined white sugar. Then progessed to coffee, then tobaco smoking, then alcohol use, mariuana., and then in very few cases an addiction to hard drugs. Sigh.....
carltonr61 1 year, 8 months ago
There exists the Hobby Horse Race Track symptoms of the 1070s that gave a negative impact on Marijuana use in New Providence. Those young fellas that worked the inner sanctum knew too well Horse medications for pain that could tranquilize a human. My boys dem would take the pills they called qualoads mixed with alcohol then Marijuana and make quite a spectacle of themselves. And of course Marijuana got the blame. The Race Track crew created a counter culture of rebellion after its closure. That popular or POP Culture spawned the Dread Locks just drifting young men who once fed, watered, groomed and cleaned stables. Again, we are looking at a period just moving out of the 60s where education was not as important as simply bringing home a meal and being a provider of provisions. Those coming into the 70s era of Education from the 60s were locked out of advancements and mobility. Rastafarian were not the nasty simply dread Locks ill disciplined criminal hoodlums. Marijuana alone simply gave you an appetite that is why AIDS and persons on cancer treatment could use it without the side effects of deadly man created drugs. Marijuana alone at medical low THC high CBD is safer than opioids for the varying degrees of sustained pain after nerve damage due to bodily deep puncture injuries and cancers of the flesh. Now, because Marijuana will mildly subdue you for up to 5 hours it is devastating as we have seen these past 50 years on persons who regularly smoke it from adolescence. In adolescents short term memory is wasted so check any job across The Bahamas and observe the tardy who only want to rest on the job. Marijuana goes deep into knowledge of the Vagus Nerve, which organs it controls, to relieve stress. Cortisol levels are high in Bahamians because New Providence is so densely toxic with stressers. No Rastafarian in history has died from Marijuana and they gave been smoking the flower along with humanity for eons. Gateway drugs in our community begin with parents not monitoring their kids activities. Marijuana has been on every street corner for 55 years and is still there. Almost every Bahamian adolescent has tried it at least once. But to have sustained use so as to impact education we must check that household and neiborhood environment. Not decriminalizing Marijuana will not take it off the street but as in other jurisductions Brave must take it under government control to curb the hundreds of Marijuana sales turf murders.
carltonr61 1 year, 8 months ago
The Bahamas teen pop culture happens to be psychedelics in pill firm. Ecstasy Methamphetamines (molly) that makes kids really trip out. They are popular in Mexico, Europe and the all night lab scenes. They cause a total trip out or even death. The USA Embassy at one time did keep The Bahamas informed on what is new there that us happening here by way of tourism. Taxi Drivers are most afraid of those tourists who get soaked out on poly mixtures out side of themselves then come to as a different person. Club drugs are dangerous in the school system, but education needs to return to those impressionable minds. You see them walking the streets having a living complete dialogue with active memories. The streets call the lab produced chemical additive to Marijuana Lizard Tail. For this reason alone Government must step in for quality control to avoid Meth in drinks or an innocent smoke with horrible night club culture crew. This rarely happens with our street sold Marijuana.
carltonr61 1 year, 8 months ago
The Bahamas Christian Council would be shocked if it's members were to visit the Night Club scenes where adults mingle and entertain themselves. Young females are more likely to pass as adults than school aged boys. There, wild wild parties take place. And the school system and street sold Marijuana gets the blame for school kids engaging in adult recreational night life. Some are ruined forever. In the USA, ID rules the night uncompromisingly. Adults over the age of 25 face legal and societal stigmas. The long term harm effects are the same as cigarettes in the long term. Cigarette smokers consume about ten sticks a day. One Marijuana shallow inhale calmness begins in two minutes and lasts up to five hours. All based on THC/CBD percentages and personal tolerance which is never an absolute value, that is why regular pharmacists refuse to get involved. XX mg per XX kilo of body weight just does not work in dosing Marijuana. The problem CBD capsules or Ingestion or Sublingual onset varies based food intake from 25 to 60 minutes with a bio availability of 10 percent.Most is just passed out bit it gets technical with the Liver Organ barrier and break down codes. Because Marijuana delays all response cognition times in speech, walking, firearm use and driving certain conditions Marijuana use is prohibited. It just slows you down too much and takes off that alertness and care.
LastManStanding 1 year, 8 months ago
To be honest I would quicker smoke weed for pain relief than take any of the opioids that doctors love to give out. Far less addictive than a lot of prescription pain relievers.
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