Concerns and suggestions raised on medicinal cannabis industry

THE move to establish a medicinal cannabis industry in Barbados was not well received during a public forum on Wednesday night, with many questioning who will truly benefit in the long run.

The standing room-only public forum hosted by the Barbados Medicinal Cannabis Licensing Authority, was attended by a number of members of the Rastafarian community who listened to presentations made by representatives of the Authority and Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir on plans for the industry.

When given the opportunity to respond, heavy criticism was levelled on capitalising on an industry which they said has been vilified for over 90 years.

Saying that marijuana is in itself medicinal, the argument was made that recreational marijuana should not be illegal if medicinal cannabis is turned into a legal profit-making industry. It is against this backdrop that it was suggested that persons who are in jail or on remand for marijuana use or possession should be released.

Many described the fees associated with applying for a license as prohibitive, even for a five-year cultivator license of no more than one acre, which comes at a cost of $29 700.

It was asserted that banks and insurance companies will have no interest in persons or businesses seeking to be a part of the medicinal cannabis industry, adding that outside of application fees, security, fencing, transportation and other restrictive costs must be considered when seeking to acquire a loan.

Attendees further argued that a recent video making its rounds on social media suggested that “locals” would be doing the laborious tasks, likening it to plantation work with a further suggestion that “conglomerates” seemingly knew more than Barbadians about the industry. “What’s the rush?” asked a member of the Rastafarian community about the planned January 2021 start.

A call was made for training sessions to be held to expose interested persons to the legal side of the industry including non-disclosure agreements and to generally give a greater understanding of the value of their intellectual property, which could be used for bargaining power.

It was also suggested that Barbados is bringing legislation that is obsolete with more countries moving away from medicinal cannabis to recreational marijuana, adding that Barbados was also missing the proverbial boat on value-added products such as hemp which can be used in a number of ways.

Paul “Ras Simba” Rock maintained that Rastafarians are being treated as criminals and used this analogy to describe the move to medicinal cannabis: “It’s like you are having oranges illegal, then you realise oranges have medicinal value. So you say oranges have Vitamin C. So you are going to make products from Vitamin C, but still make oranges illegal for the people. That is unconscionable.”

However, the Agriculture Minister assured that he understands the plight of Rastafari. “We have met with several Rastafari groups and the Government passed a Bill in Parliament based on what we were told to allow the use of marijuana for sacramental uses. And that Bill was passed in Parliament last year.

“It is a process. Everything is not going to happen one time. Ras Simba and I have spoken on numerous occasions. I have also spoken to ICAR (Iyanola Council for the Advancement of Rastafari) as well. We have agreed that we are going to treat the Rastas fairly, but we are moving in stages. What we have said is that while we are moving, we are going to allow you to use cannabis for sacrament. So if you want to boil a tea with it, when you get possession of it, you can do that. Nobody is stopping you and that has been completely legalised through the Attorney General’s Office. So yes, you can use it for sacrament.

“We have also recognised that in Barbados, we have to speak to all Barbadians and in so doing, we said this will be done by way of a Referendum. Without even going in that direction, we have already made provisions under statute for marijuana to be used by Rastas in Barbados as sacrament. Once you apply to use it as sacrament, then you meet criteria, you will be issued the permission to use it. The legislation speaks to how many ounces you can carry; how many trees you can grow; the locations, all of those things have already been dealt with.

“I do fully respect the views of the Rastas because they are the ones that I am relying on to teach us about the cultivars that we want to develop. And at the appropriate time, we are going to make it possible for those who currently have strains of marijuana to bring them forward.

“You are not going to be arrested, you are not going to be treated as a criminal. In order for us to get local strains, what we have to do we have to take it from local growth. And therefore, we have recognised long ago that there is a place for the Rastas in Barbados to participate.”

Minister Weir said he is willing to meet with this group again to discuss concerns and suggestions, which could be taken to Cabinet. (JH)