The Bahamas additionally goals to decriminalize hashish possession and permit its medicinal use
The federal government of the Bahamas has launched a number of payments aimed toward legalizing marijuana for non secular and medicinal functions, and decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of the drug. Lawmakers hope that the measures will enhance the islands’ tax revenues.
If the payments are accepted, the federal government will challenge licenses for the cultivation, transport, and sale of marijuana for non secular or medical use to Bahamian-owned firms, whereas license for hashish analysis, testing, and manufacturing could be issued to firms which can be at the least 30% Bahamian-owned, the Related Press reported on Friday.
The sale of marijuana for leisure functions would nonetheless be unlawful, however these caught with lower than 30 grams would pay a $250 wonderful and never obtain a prison file. At current, possession might be punished with a wonderful of as much as $500,000 or a 30 12 months jail time period.
These utilizing pot for religious functions will solely be allowed to take action on the premises of a licensed non secular group, Legal professional Normal Ryan Pinder informed reporters at a press convention on Thursday.
Whereas greater than 90% of Bahamanians are Christians, the islands are residence to small communities of Rastafarians, whose principal non secular sacrament is the smoking of hashish.
In 2018, the heads of 19 Caribbean nations, together with the Bahamas, Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica and others, agreed to “overview marijuana’s present standing with a view to reclassification.” Antigua and Jamaica have since decriminalized the private use of the drug, whereas the US Virgin Islands approved leisure and spiritual use earlier this 12 months.
Pinder informed reporters that public hearings on the payments might be held in September, and that laws may very well be accepted earlier than subsequent 12 months.
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