The Hon. Dr. Michael Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness
Rastafarians are concerned that none of their input concerning the Cannabis Bill 2024 that was recently tabled in the House Of Assembly was included in the bill.
Minister of Health and Wellness, the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville addressed these concerns while speaking with members of the media on Tuesday at a commissioning ceremony for the new location of the blood bank. He said, “we met with the Rastafarian group as it relates to cannabis legislation, their concerns were brought to the table. As far as we were concerned there could be potential further discussion but a decision was made that we would go ahead with the legislation as was because just like the Rastafarians believing that they should not pay licensing fees there are other groups who feel that should not be paying licensing fees.”
The minister also emphasized that there is no legislation that will satisfy everyone and that the government is prepared to look at the issue again though they think the bill as laid is fair.
The objective of the proposed legislation is to “set up a framework to establish The Bahamas Cannabis Authority and to regulate the of importation, exportation, cultivation, processing, manufacturing, producing, sale, possession, distribution and use of cannabis.”
