The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A marijuana legalisation advocate yesterday challenged the Government’s decision to legalise medicial marijuana but not industrial hemp, arguing: "They are the same thing.”

Terry Miller, chairman of the non-profit Bahamas Cannabis Research Institute (BACARI), told Tribune Business that he does not understand why the Government is “playing” with the terminology on industrial hemp, cannabis and marijuana when “they are the same thing".

Asserting that the Government should legalise all forms rather than just one, he added: “I don’t know why they keep playing around with that, shuffling that from one thing to another and like one is different from the other.” He was responding to confirmation by Dr Michael Darville, minister of health, that Indian hemp will remain on the Dangerous Drugs Act's prohibited list despite the Government moving forward with legalising medicial marijuana.

Dr Darville cited Indian hemp's higher concentration of psychotropic elements such as THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) as the primary reason for why the Government will not remove it from the Dangerous Drugs Act, but he recognised its economic benefits from use in materials such as clothing and biofuels.

Mr Miller, a staunch proponent of industrial hemp legalisation, said: “The science is the CBD generally is the medicine, and THC is also a medicine. It’s the THC in marijuana that helps with epilepsy and epileptic seizures. One without the other doesn’t work. That’s why people talk about ‘whole plant’ because they want the CBD and the THC.”

He also voiced concern that the Davis administration is duplicating research work already undertaken in 2018 and 2019 under the Minnis administration’s Bahamas National Commission on Marijuana, headed by co-chairs Bishop Simeon Hall and former deputy commissioner of police, Quinn McCartney.

Mr Miller added: “I think the Government is kicking the can down the road again because it seems as if we are making much ado about nothing.” The Government has begun public consultation on the proposed medical marijuana legislative package, and this will ramp up next month with more stakeholder meetings.

“We did the consultation in 2019, a whole year of consultation. People were paid and we had a whole marijuana commission and they published a report,” Mr Miller added. Licences for cannabis dispensaries will only be given to Bahamians, which Mr Miller described as is “excellent”, but he warned against the lack of Bahamian empowerment when it comes to obtaining the permit itself.

“Of course, Bahamians will have to partner with an international organisation and nothing is wrong with that. What I’m not hearing, and what I’m listening for, is how are they going to empower the average Bahamian,” he questioned.

Pointing to BACARI’s work with the former FNM administration, where it presented a proposal for establishing a marijuana co-operative that ordinary Bahamians can invest and participate in, Mr Miller said this structure will get more Bahamians involved in the industry.

“I wish them [the Government] luck, but the way I think they are going about it, it’s going to fail. It’s going to fail because people who have a licence to grow marijuana for their personal use, they will continue to cultivate marijuana for their personal use," he added.

Ryan Pinder KC, the attorney general, said the Government intends to implement a very strict licensing regime for persons wishing to possess marijuana for medicial use. They will all be electronically tracked and traced. Persons possessing more than 30 grams of marijuana without a licence will be guilty of the same offence as stipulated in the current penal (criminal) code.