The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE government hopes to begin accepting applications for cannabis licences by the end of the second quarter, Attorney General Ryan Pinder announced yesterday, revealing that the Cannabis Authority Board has been constituted and is working to finalise the regulatory framework.

He was speaking during the University of The Bahamas’ Law Society’s Legal Week event last night.

He privately told The Tribune that only the provisions of The Cannabis Act relating to establishing the authority have come into force.

“Once the framework is in place and adopted by the authority, the entire Act will come into force,” he said.

Mr Pinder called the process a “long journey” and a “mammoth task” but said the country is now “very close to full implementation”.

It is not clear who has been appointed to the authority.

Legislation was passed in Parliament last year to legalise cannabis for medical and religious purposes.

Under the cannabis regulatory regime, several categories of licences will be available, including cultivation, transport, manufacturing, retail, religious, and analytical testing licences.

A cultivation licence would permit the growing, harvesting, and packaging of cannabis. A transport licence would allow the delivery of cannabis within the country, while a manufacturing licence would permit the production and packaging of cannabis and cannabis accessories.

A retail licence would enable the sale of cannabis and cannabis accessories for medical, scientific research, and religious purposes. A religious licence would allow cannabis use for religious practices, and an analytical testing licence would be for entities conducting scientific testing on cannabis products.

Cultivation, retail, transport, and religious use licences would be reserved for Bahamian citizens 21 years or older or companies 100 per cent beneficially owned by Bahamians. Analytical testing, manufacturing, and research licences could be obtained by entities where Bahamians beneficially own at least 30 per cent of the company.

The initial fees for cultivation, religious, and transport licences are set at $1,000. The initial fee for manufacturing, retail, and research licences is $3,000, while an analytical testing licence requires an initial payment of $5,000.

Non-refundable annual religious use licence fees are $1,000 for organisations and $500 for individuals. Cultivation licences carry non-refundable annual fees of $2,944 for nurseries, $9,800 for micro-cultivation, and $12,600 for standard cultivation.

The non-refundable annual fees for manufacturing, analytical testing, research, transport, and retail licences are $14,712, $7,356, $7,356, $9,800, and $14,712, respectively. The transport licence fee applies to up to three vehicles, with each additional vehicle requiring a $7,400 fee.

Additional administrative fees will apply for security vetting, electronic database services, tracking software, and inspections, ranging from $2,400 to $200.