Announcement comes after 2.5 years of consideration by Hubert Minnis administration

The government of The Bahamas has announced that it will be legalising the medicinal use of marijuana.

The Dr Hubert Minnis administration will shortly be introducing legislation in the Parliament to legalise the use of the substance.

Minnis’ announcement on the weekend comes two and a half years after the administration announced that consideration would be given to the legalisation and decriminalisation of marijuana.

The move will see The Bahamas joining Jamaica and a number of other Caribbean states in moving to legalise marijuana for medical use and seeking to expunge criminal records for minor ganja offences.

Addressing the media in Elbow Cay, Abaco on Saturday, Minnis disclosed that the government is in the process of completing legislation to bring to Parliament to legalise medicinal marijuana, “so that medical marijuana will be grown by Bahamians here, utilised and exported — medicinal marijuana”.

Finding on recent survey on marijuana

The announcement comes just days after Quinn McCartney, co-chair of The Bahamas National Commission on Marijuana, advised that the commission’s survey on marijuana showed Bahamians were moving away from traditional views on the substance and were cautiously willing to consider something different.

The survey was conducted by Bahamian market research firm, Public Domain, on behalf of the commission.

McCartney disclosed that subcommittees of the National Commission on Marijuana have already been established to study the survey data and will meet in two weeks to formulate the final report to present to the prime minister and the political executive of The Bahamas.

In its preliminary report on marijuana, the commission recommended that marijuana be decriminalised and that individuals be allowed to have a maximum of one ounce of the substance in their possession without prosecution. The commission also put forth recommendations for medicinal, recreational and religious use of the substance.

The commission has insisted that Bahamians should own 51 per cent of the industry in a legalised framework. However, the national ganja commission stopped short of recommending the legalisation of the herb for recreational use, noting that more data must be explored before a final determination could be made.

Minnis addressed issue of expungement of criminal records for ganja

In his presentation on Saturday, Minnis spoke directly to the youths of the Caribbean territory about the new way forward on marijuana.

“I also want, especially [for] the young people to hear, we are aggressively moving towards expunging the records of young people and many have been done already because too many of our young people have been arrested for minor offenses, including the minimal use of marijuana, and their life could be totally destroyed in that they could not obtain proper jobs, they cannot visit the United States and their future is destroyed.”

In concluding, the prime minister declared: “I invite all who would have been charged with such minor offenses to apply. Aply so that your records may be expunged and your life may continue. The government will continue to expunge to protect our young people and protect our future.”