ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, (CMC) — Agriculture Minister Lennox Andrews says before the end of the second half of 2025 the Government will bring legislation to the Parliament that will decriminalise the use of cannabis for religious and recreational purposes.

“We were hoping to have this done before the end of the first quarter, but right now I can safely say that it will be done before the end of the first half,” said Andrews.

He pointed out that the legislation will be similar to the legislation that the former New National Party laid in the House in 2021 but died a natural death when the Parliament was dissolved for the June 2022 General Election.

That Bill, which was laid in the Lower House for first reading by former Agriculture Minister Peter David, sought to decriminalise the use of marijuana and for anyone over the age of 18 to have no more than 28 grams in his or her possession for personal use by amending the Drug Abuse (Prevention and Control) Act.

The amendment, as proposed in 2021, allowed the use of cannabis by Rastafarians in places of worship and to allow people 18 years and older to produce, supply, or offer to supply a small amount of cannabis.

There were six amendments and one insertion, and the main objectives of the amendments were to allow anyone over 18 to be in possession of 28 grams or 0.987671 ounces of marijuana and to allow each homeowner over the age of 18 to grow no more than five trees.

Rastafarians will be able to use the herb solely for religious purposes as a sacrament in adherence to the Rastafarian faith and at a place of worship.

During the election campaign the then Opposition National Democratic Congress promised to legalise the possession and use of cannabis; however, in January 2023 Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said Grenada will focus on medicinal marijuana or commercial uses of marijuana.

“We also recognise as well that it’s a misallocation of resources to criminalise a plant that has the levels of commercial and medicinal uses that I think everyone has accepted it has,” Mitchell said in his first media interview for 2023.

He also explained that the intention is for a regulated system in which law enforcement is not arresting and charging people for the personal use of cannabis. “We don’t want to keep on wasting State resources arresting people for a spliff and that sort of thing, you know it makes no sense, and the police are better off doing proper policing rather than chasing someone for a spliff and so on,” added Mitchell.