Grenada’s government said it would hold its final public consultation on marijuana decriminalization on Friday as it moves forward with plans to change the current drug law as part of the initiative.

“After this Friday we will be going back to Cabinet to let Cabinet know what the response was,” Agriculture Minister Peter David told reporters at the weekly post-Cabinet press conference.

“I think…there are different views on the bill, I have to say we haven’t had any negative response to it and it’s going in a particular direction,” David said then. that he was informing journalists of the bill introduced in the House. representatives in first reading in November 2021.

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“So I’m going to go to Cabinet next and tell Cabinet the results of those consultations. We’ve had a roundtable with some of the stakeholders, so now we have a pretty good idea of ​​where our company is in that regard.

“So I think the next step is for Parliament to have the second reading, where we will deal with the matter there, finalize it there, then send it to the Senate, and then all the stakeholders will put their mechanism in place, ” , said the Minister of Agriculture.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell’s ruling New National Party (NNP) controls all 15 seats in Parliament and before the legislation was tabled the government had appointed a three-member committee whose task it was to identify the best way for Grenada to enforce aspects of the report of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Marijuana Commission.

The committee consisted of Health Minister Nickolas Steele; David and the Attorney General, Dia Forrester.

When he introduced the bill last November, David said Grenada would not focus on cannabis cultivation as part of its initial approach, but would instead adopt a strategy where the first step would be decriminalization at personal and religious purposes.

“The first stage is not going to be for mass production, the first stage is going to deal with the issue of criminal justice. This means that many young people have been criminalized or given criminal records for possessing small amounts. We are going to have a national discussion on small quantities.

However, during the various consultations that followed the introduction of the bill, several participants felt that Grenada should legalize marijuana for industrial and commercial purposes and not decriminalize it only for religious and personal use.

In December 2020, Prime Minister Mitchell in a town hall meeting said Grenada would develop its own model for the cultivation, distribution, supply and use of marijuana as it moves forward to implement a aspect of the report of the CARICOM Commission on Marijuana.