 the panel the discussion an objective and impartial view of the issues of interest to you. The nation beat is on now. Welcome to the Cannabis Task Force panel discussion. I am Renia Tadisose and I will be your moderator today. I want to introduce to you the vice chairperson of the Cannabis Task Force Mr Dylan Norbert-Englis and also the PRO Mr Vern Emmanuel. I will be handing over to Mr Dylan Norbert-Englis to begin the proceedings with a brief remark. Thank you for that Mr Tadisose. Permit me if I may to go through a few points regarding the current status of cannabis and the proposed regime for cannabis. The status quo the law regarding cannabis understands today one permits a person to possess 30 grams of cannabis on his person two permits small-scale cultivation of four plants in a household in certain circumstances and notwithstanding the two earlier provisions prohibits smoking in public. Possession of in excess of 30 grams of cannabis remains an offense cultivation of more than four plants is in or in breach of the parameters of cultivation remains an offense and smoking in public also remains an offense but we have overview of the proposed regime the government of St Lucia and people of St Lucia have and continue to have due regard for a number of international conventions which include those related to cannabis and narcotics. The decisions of the international bodies regarding cannabis has also been put in the minds of the task force in order to maintain the functional international trade relationships which we have our much needed access to international banking lines and the most important oversight of the parameters of our health and safety St Lucia is compelled to quite to be quite deliberate in redrawing the line in the sand regarding cannabis. Based on the decisions of the international narcotics control board or INCB and pursuant to the single convention on narcotics cannabis may only be developed for medicinal use industrial use or for scientific research purposes the intent for cannabis in St Lucia is to fall under these headings as mandated this point is wolf reiteration based on international restrictions espoused by treaty and accepted international stances our commercial cannabis regime in St Lucia may only be permitted for medicinal industrial and scientific purposes recreational cannabis use is not permitted under these parameters as set by the INCB in the view of the INCB sacramental use is seen as recreational use and would thusly not be permitted for commercial cannabis regimes the possession of the legal possession rather of cannabis of up to four plans for household is allowed for consumption under the new regime all consumption shall take place within a private place and for the purpose of cannabis legislation all rastafarian places of worship shall be deemed a private place small-scale cultivation will be small scale cultivation farmers will be eligible to apply for and be issued a traditional cultivation license which will be which will allow for up to three acres to be cultivated in St Lucia non-nationals and larger cultivators who may apply for up to 10 licenses ranging from plantation licenses for a medicinal and industrial cannabis licenses will also be required for activities such as manufacturing transportation importation exportation dispensing research and others permit me to go into the parameters regarding purchase and use of cannabis non-industrial cannabis for these purposes referred to generally as medicinal cannabis is being sold under two headings class one and class two medicinal cannabis class one medicinal cannabis shall be cannabis products which are strictly CBD products or cannabis products which otherwise fall below a prescribed THC threshold class two medicinal cannabis shall be medicinal cannabis products which surpass the prescribed THC threshold class two medicinal cannabis products will require a prescription and will only be sold at class two dispensaries whereas class one medicinal cannabis may be purchased without prescription from class one or class two medicinal cannabis dispensaries. A person who is of the view that they suffer from a qualifying illness may visit a class one medicinal cannabis dispensary and self-prescribe a class one medicinal cannabis product to treat that qualifying illness. A person who suffers from a qualifying illness for which class one cannabis products are insufficient or ineffective may visit a qualified medical practitioner who has obtained a valid prescription authorization certificate and obtain a prescription for class two medicinal cannabis. A patient in possession of class two medicinal cannabis must at all times be in possession of the prescription giving rise to possession or the license issued by Vutiu of that possession. The proposed legislation will create an entity to be called the control substances regulatory authority which shall issue and oversee the industry. There shall also be a medical cannabis advisory council which shall advise the minister and the CSRE on matters regarding cannabis. There shall be no more than two licensed central trading or distribution entities after cultivation all cannabis for local consumption shall be sold to one of these central entities or receive approval to bypass the entity in cases where cultivators are licensed for manufacturing, exportation etc. All dispensaries shall purchase cannabis from the central entity unless imported. Prohibitions it shall be a ticketable offense to consume cannabis in a public place. A person may be permitted to possess 30 grams or less of class one medicinal cannabis on his person and it shall be a ticketable offense to be in possession of more than 30 grams of cannabis that is class one or to be in possession of class two cannabis without a prescription. A person may be permitted to possess such amounts of class two medicinal cannabis on his person as Julie prescribed to him by a qualified medical practitioner who is the hold of a valid prescription authorization certificate. It shall be an offense to be in possession of class two medicinal cannabis without the requisite prescription and authorization. It shall be an offense to cultivate import export process transport manufacture test carry research on prescribe dispense otherwise retail cannabis or cannabis products without a license issued by the CSRE. It shall be an offense to operate a vehicle or having machinery as well while under the influence of cannabis. With regard to minors any use of cannabis by a minor shall be pursuant to a prescription issued by a qualified medical practitioner who has been issued with a valid prescription authorization certificate. It shall be an offense to give cannabis or cannabis products to a minor unless a prescription has been attained for that minor. Minors who are found to be using cannabis without a prescription may be ordered to participate in controlled substance workshop seminars or in community service. This is a summary of the cannabis regime which has been proposed by the CNU cannabis task force and received endorsement by the cabinet of ministers. It has informed the legislation which is currently being drafted which has almost been completed and will be the framework for the regime going forward. Thank you very much Mr Dylan Norbert-Englis. We are now going to move on to our PRO, Mr Immanuel for his opening remarks. Good morning everyone. The next steps as outlined by Mr English in his presentation of the draft framework will see the movement of a public consultation on the draft bill once we receive the requisite approvals for its content and concurrent with that we will see public comment on proposed cannabis standards by the CNU Bureau of Standards. Effectively the first of March we will have through our standards comment portal the proposed new work items for cannabis standards in St Lucia which are primarily based on ASTM D-47 which is the standard the technical committee for cannabis. We envisage that these standards will assist in the public policy and the framework that has been articulated in the control substances regulatory authority bill and that the regulation of cannabis leads to a coup in a manner which is compatible with our national interests and in keeping with our international obligations under the requisite treaties that we have signed on to. We believe that there is significant space for us to both comply with the international treaties while ensuring that we have a robust and economically viable and sustainable industry in St Lucia using the three areas of medicinal industrial and research. Thank you very much Mr. Immanuel. We will now move on to the question portion of our panel. There are a few compiled questions and then we'll be opening to the audience. Our first question either of you may answer. Can you tell us what the legislation will be called? The legislation as drafted is called the control substances regulatory authority bill. My second question was what does CSRE stand for but you just answered control substances regulatory authority. So my third question who will be on the regulatory board? The regulatory board will consist of state agencies primarily the ministry of health, ministry of commerce, the police, ministry of labor, St Lucia Bureau standards, ministry of agriculture and other entities as nominated by the minister. Thank you very much. My fourth question, what are the categories of cannabis that will form the medical cannabis industry? Well that has not been delineated so what the legislation envisages or has the framework that there will be two categories. The specificity of what those thresholds are will be determined by the medical advisory council which will be formed as part of the legislation. So what there is a clear distinction is that class one is distinct from class two. Class one may be as approved and would not require a prescription. Class two would require a prescription and a medical practitioner to issue that prescription and a licensed pharmacist and dispensary to dispense that medication. What we continue to have is to ensure that the public understands that the new regime for cannabis will be from a public health approach. It will not be free for all. There will be the existing public health regulations will remain in place. The smoking of cannabis in public will be prohibited. The use of cannabis by minors will remain prohibited unless under specified medical guidance. Thank you very much. Just to echo that sentiment, based on the provisions and based on the evolution of the cannabis industry internationally we thought it prudent to ensure that the legislation did not specify a specific threshold in itself but provided the medical advisory committee or council rather to advise the minister on the parameters which we understand may change from time to time. So it may in the initial stages be very low and have a need to be to be increased or be too high and have a need to be lowered. So we thought it was more prudent to deal with a regulatory framework that would decide what the threshold would have been as opposed to putting it in the legislation. Understood. Thank you very much. My next question is for you Mr. Norbert Inglis. In your opening remarks you mentioned licenses so would like to know what are the types of licenses that will be available. Okay so as I spoke to earlier there are going to be a number of cultivation licenses which deal with cultivation of medicinal cannabis and cultivation of industrial cannabis. They have been separated. There's also a classification of license which is specific to the traditional cultivators. So individuals would have been part of the industry for the past years who would have been part of the cannabis regime as it exists illegally. The intention was to ensure that these persons did have an avenue to become legitimate within the industry and as such the traditional cultivation license was created to facilitate these persons transitioning from the legitimate market into the legitimate market. Beyond that every aspect dealing and concerning with cannabis is regulated. So the transportation will require a license. You would well understand the expectation is not for persons who have cultivated to have the product in the back of a pickup or in a vehicle transporting. There's going to be a need for robust security given the value of the product and we thought it brilliant to ensure that licensing regimes looked after that aspect of it as well as the manufacturing which would be subject to a number of standards and guidelines. The sale of it whether it be class one or class two all of these parameters would have required licenses. All right so besides the cultivation the traditional cultivation license who else will be eligible to receive a cultivation license? So the traditional cultivation license is it requires that person to be what we refer to as a natural person. So these must be individuals. The other licenses do not so require. So you may have individuals or companies who wish to get involved in the industry whether they be solution or not. They have the opportunity to apply for a license and the CSRE board will make that determination. Okay thank you very much. My next question can be answered by either one of you. How will the cannabis industry provide mechanisms for effective access to solutions who are interested in the economic benefits to be derived? All right well part of the social safeguards which have been put in place are one that the cultivated license needs to be a natural person and that was the only legal mechanism that we have at this point to ensure that the persons who may have traditionally participated in the growing of the product would be able to be an active participant in in the new industry. We must also understand that in the new regulatory framework we will also be operating in a free market. In the free market the rules of competition will exist and the rules of competition state that the market needs to be free. It needs to be fair. It needs to be undistorted to the extent where regulations will distort the market. They need to fulfill a legitimate objective being health safety national security. The industry is also framed in a manner that will allow for control in ensuring that we meet the international regulations. The international regulations require that the state must know the quantity must know and quantify the total amount of cannabis on island and the only manner we can do that is through a licensing system and there will be licenses all along the value chain. So there's a cultivator's license, there's a processor's license, there's a transportation license, there will be a clearing house of which in the legislation it envisages minimum of two clearing houses and the exact context of how that clearing house will be formulated is still under discussion but it is envisaged that at least one of the clearing houses may be a cooperative. Anything to add Mr. Nobod English? I think that was the same thing. Thank you. All right my next question how soon will the legislation be enacted? Legislation will be put on our legislative agenda. We believe that it is a priority for the government to ensure that the cannabis industry is fit for its purpose. We can go quickly alone but we can go further together and we also have gone through a process to ensure that our cannabis industry in San Rishah is also harmonized with our other OECS member states. So what we're doing in San Rishah is distinct, it is different, it is not identical to what has been done in other OECS territories but we are working to ensure that it is harmonized and that harmonization means that it performs in the same manner and it may not necessarily read in the same script but the performance needs to be this identical. Okay my final question what can cannabis consumers expect the industry to look like after everything has been put in place? Please take us through the ideal structure of the industry. So I would have touched on a number of these points in the in my preamble but essentially users of cannabis would have had to have access cannabis through one of two mechanisms. So if an individual wants to believe that they have a qualifying illness which will be specified within the legislation and they believe that cannabis would have been a product that could assist in the difficulties the illness that they face that individual can if they fall within the threshold for class one self-prescribe go to a class one dispensary and obtain a cannabis product which can treat that qualifying illness. If it is that the qualifying illness cannot be treated by class one cannabis they will have to seek a prescription from a qualified medical practitioner who can then give them the parameters for the cannabis use which would have been class two cannabis and they can then go to a class two dispensary and obtain from the class two dispensary the prescribed cannabis that has been um that they have been indicated that has been indicated to them that they need to take um in the same parameters as they have been prescribed to take it. Thank you very much Mr Dylan Norbert-Englis and Mr Vinnie Manuel I would like to open up questions from the audience. Thank you gentlemen for answering the questions. As you probably well know that we have an well established black market and cannabis industry that has been off the books for many decades many of the people who have been involved in this industry have been marginalized because of the association sometimes jails families broken up and have really suffered because of the draconian measures that we have taken to actually regulate cannabis. Many of these people don't have money so what would be the the procedure they would have to go through to continue their their cannabis business like they have fellows who sell weed on the corner and they have guys who are producing weed um growing um ganja in on lands that are not their own. How do we get all these people to come on board and what sort of prices and and how would they continue to apply their trade? Well part of part of the the the bill envisages an amnesty for traditional persons who have been participating in cannabis undeclared and illegally. It requires them to make a declaration in order that the budding industry would not be killed off in in the route to getting the correct regulatory framework. We've also indicated that the cannabis reform requires a whole of society approach. It is not just one sector of society so those marginalized persons need to or citizens need to come forward. They need to make the requisite declarations under the CSRA bills protection and then be able to engage with the government and government and state authorities in order that we can assist them in becoming active economic persons in a regularized manner. They cannot continue to remain in their illegality and they cannot continue to not be known so the state cannot respond to you if it doesn't know you. They must become known. The circumstances must become known and not because that they become known that it will immediately and automatically be able to address their specific issues but you cannot create a mechanism or a path to solution if you do not properly articulate what the exact problem or whether gaps maybe that need to be addressed because those gaps that when we bring them into a regular context they will now become economic actors they will now as an agricultural product be asking for inputs factors to assist them the means of production they may require land they may require fertilizers they may require vehicles for transport they may require permissions permits access to resources they will also be required to not farm or have a production facility in a place which is incompatible to the industry so they cannot farm near rivers in forested areas affecting the water resource catchment areas so these are things that we know exist we know have we've traditionally if we want other society ignored or not been able to properly address in that so the economics reform will also speak to items or issues like our land use policy and how we now classify lands how we now convert lands from agriculture to other uses and how we now allow persons to to access concessions through the industry but it must be in a permitted framework so if there's an application process so for instance a farmer who is on not or in forestry lands or in on lands that would be dangerous to water sheds and he has been in the industry for a while how how does he prove it to you and is application process and is there are there going to be lands available for these people who have never had the opportunity to own lands but but actually make a living by planting well these are the issues to be addressed because you you clearly would not be able to if you have an area demarcated as a water catchment site or area that you would not be able to provide him a permit in the catchment area he would now have to get a permit in another area so would it's a government thinking of releasing certain lands for the industry and for these people who don't have lands because on an estimate I'm sure more than half or maybe even a greater percentage of people do farming cannabis on lands that are not their own so this this may be an issue that we'd like it's a government planning to release lands or do you know that no we cannot say definitively that the government is planning to release the lands what lands available what we what we can say is that you can apply for permission to use crown lands for agricultural purposes that is that is distinct from us making a definitive statement that the government is planning to release lands for cannabis you can apply to for crown lands for agricultural purposes and that has an established process correct so just echo that sentiment but farmers have for quite some time had the ability to apply for crown lands to utilize for agricultural purposes the difficulty has been that the industry which was an illicit industry did not permit a farmer to come to say that I would like to farm cannabis and would like to lease a land from crown lands to farm cannabis when you have a legitimate industry it now empowers the persons and actors within the industry to say that I would like to legitimately rent from crown lands property for cultivation I would like to receive financing from an institution to inject capital into my business I would like to get some concessionary assistance by way of imports for fertilizer etc for my business and that is the intent of the legislation so it can empower the current cultivators so that they can access some of the already existing benefits that farmers can benefit from okay so that's it farmers so I'm assuming that once a farmer is interested he would make himself known to the system and then as a result apply I would say that generally from my experience most of the farmers are farming under three acres nobody's farming a whole acre of cannabis so the three acres can more than one person grow on the three acres or that that three acres that you're talking about for the lowest tear is only one applicant for the for the three acres or can people kind of like three or four crops share together so the license that would have been granted for cultivation is specific to the individual so an individual can indicate that I am cultivating cannabis on this piece of property it need not necessarily be the whole three acres another farmer may similarly indicate that he wants to farm on the same block and parcel but on a separate piece of it so you can have a three acre lot that has been given by Crownlands to a group and three persons may apply for licenses to cultivate one acre each on that same lot so that has been envisaged okay and um where is the market suppose suppose we have 500 farmers that apply and get licensed and have the land and say we have a thousand pounds per acre kind of yield so we have 50 000 pounds of cannabis where where are we going to sell the cannabis well we have two avenues to look at cannabis retail one would have been the medicinal cannabis industry in St Lucia two would have been the industrial cannabis industry in St Lucia and we want to remind persons that cannabis need not only be seen as the medicinal cannabis or the high tea seed cannabis there is quite a bit of scope for cannabis for industrial purposes and we have seen in other jurisdictions a thrust towards industrial cannabis or hemp and great benefits to the economy from that product which prior to to legalization most persons did not have much of an interest in because of the restrictions that the industry had so we are hoping that the industry does not limit itself to only medicinal cannabis or or to class two medicinal cannabis would have been high tea seed cannabis but also looks at the possibilities that exist with industrial cannabis one and two beyond that we look at the scope for exportation we have had a number of persons approach the task force indicating an interest and an appetite to invest in cannabis for exportation to other markets these individuals have been directed to invest in Lucia and the ministry of responsibility for investment so that you the agents can be done and they hope is that these persons can lend some support or provide some conduit for access to markets overseas both for industrial cannabis and medicinal cannabis and then the my last question a lot of people use cannabis here and they access it from guys on the block who don't have a brick-on-mortar sort of facility to dispense the cannabis what how do you see the transition or is there going to be a transition are they going to be requirements for these guys who've been applying their business on street corners for many years how are we going to get them into the industry because we cannot legalize the the have an industry and then keep these guys out these guys are the front runners and we need to to ensure that they are almost first in line because they suffer and we don't think anybody should really frog because these guys will continue to apply their industry so how do these I mean you talk about a dispensary they don't have a dispensary yet they are dispensers of cannabis so how are we going to get them involved well let me say manual touch on that briefly but before I do I want to make sure persons understand the parameters and standards for cannabis are not parameters and standards that we have on our own determined that we need they have been set internationally and we have compelled to apply them to our local regime not just because of health standards but also because we want to continue to have the conduit to banking that we have internationally and we want to continue to maintain a proper appreciation for what is happening from a health perspective on the island beyond that there is a need for us as much as we have opened up an industry not to lower the standards of the industry but to venerate the current players in the industry to meet the standard so as opposed to saying to an individual we will allow you to continue to apply in your current situation which was the situation in the illicit industry it is to seek some means of empowering these individuals so that they can be brought up to a standard that is workable given the requirements that we have internationally um so these individuals as I said are now in a position to benefit from all of the concessions that are far more to benefit from and then you look at the the persons who are selling cannabis now they are in a position to benefit from any benefit that a business personal entrepreneur could benefit from they legitimately can go to a bank and specify to a lending agency I wish to get a loan for me to do x involved in cannabis and that is now a legitimate means of income um so it is to change the thinking that these persons have that okay well I juggle cannabis and I you know it is no longer a juggling of cannabis these persons are viable entrepreneurs and need to see themselves as such and determine how if it may be by coming together otherwise how they can raise their standard to a point that they can become the players that we intend to have as part of the industry um we've not intend to shun them or keep them away and we'd like and I believe the administration has indicated an interest and appetite in assisting them as much as is possible um whether that would be by means of um grant funding would that be by means of um facilities for them to utilize I cannot say that is for the administration to make the determination on but I do know that there is some interest in ensuring that these persons are sought after taken care of and they interest are sought after yeah so that is also envisaged in the retailer's license so that person would be essentially be a retailer of type type one or class one medicinal cannabis the what I would also want you to and to dispel the myth and disabuse our minds of the ability to juggle cannabis on a street that will not that that is illegal now and it will remain illegal you will not be juggling cannabis on a street corner so is there but they are doing it now is there going to be a transition period of forgiveness period the framework that we have envisaged for them is to transition them into retailers with a retail license for medicine for class one medicinal cannabis but the framework the operation framework will not be on a street corner you will not be able to juggle cannabis on a street corner that that is not appropriate it cannot be it is incompatible with the with the regularized framework and it is also incompatible with how we envisage the industry to run as Dylan indicated these persons must be seen not as jugglers or in an informal industry but as entrepreneurs within a regularized framework and the retailer's license will allow them to properly and actively participate in the industry it is not there to restrict them what it will restrict is how they operate but not the access to the industry okay thank you I hope that the regulations don't create a black market that we don't want well a black market is something that you cannot always totally eliminate but the the framework of the regular of the regulated industry is that it will provide sufficient access to everyone who legitimately wishes to access it without creating any unnecessary conditions precedent or hindrances for for the access to to that market okay thank you gentlemen morning to all good morning especially our panelists brother Dylan brother um english and brother immanuel good morning good morning my questions I think I have a few two questions it is really on in relation to employment in what way that industry that will be established legal within that legal framework in what way will that industry address our our current level of employment in this country because knowing that if that in the if the industry is established and the amount based on calculation previous calculations and current calculation that can be made out of this sustainable it is called a sustainable industry you understand in what way will um that actually positively impact in terms of reducing the level of employment unemployment unemployment unemployment yeah the other question again I believe it is touched to um we can might link it with the the the different years tears as far as the as far as um the different years within the industry in terms of cultivation it is hoped that I believe that um there will be some investors that will be interested within the industry within that industry with investors there will be a level whereby they might need people to work on the farms or whatever area as far as industry is concerned in terms of percentage will it be something where the investors can come in with their own their own um workers or there will be a percentage of workers that he must come out with as far as the local people is concerned don't worry the other question is um was there any linkages or any reference as far as the I'm setting up the the legal that legal framework was there any consideration given to to to the Caribbean original um cannabis report of which that was chaired by um our childhood friend um professor Miribel Antoine was there any linkages in references did was there any study as far as that report is concerned because it is a Caribbean report and I believe whatever we are doing they might have some linkages in terms of what we do in that industry thank you very much all right so to answer your last question the the 2018 caracom cannabis report didn't form the sandwich as cannabis policy and the policy has informed the draft legislation um with regard to unemployment we have existing co-industries right we have an agricultural sector we have a framework we have a normal national economy what we're doing with cannabis is regularizing a product which was prohibited and mainstreaming it into the the normal process of business and legal framework everything that currently exists will continue to exist and will now become applicable to cannabis so in in in the context of unemployment where unemployment may be a specific market failure you may need certain regulations to deal with that market failure to assist in that but those regulations would also need to be flexible and responsive and that is why we've not dealt with some of those types of things in the legislation because the regulations which will come afterwards have to be able to respond to the change in dynamics and if we go if we operate in a manner which is too prescriptive it will constrain our ability to grow it will also constrain our ability to receive foreign direct investment into the the industry a lot of persons are looking forward to foreign direct investment but I would posit that we have more local direct investment or local investment which is accessible ready willing and waiting for the framework for the cannabis to to commence and we may see a lot more local investment than any foreign direct investment in the overall context in in terms of unemployment you will have the industry's envisage to be a value-added industry and not just simple raw materials there is an aspect of raw materials but there's also the value-added processing of cannabis oils fiber other products and byproducts tinctures creams that create a brand new opening for employment in St. Lucia you also see more manufacturing more exports of specific value-added products so we may not necessarily be exporting raw cannabis it has taken other similar territories more than three years just to comply with the quality requirements and the documentation in order to export raw products and so that is not something that we are excluding the export of raw products but it may be quicker to to deal with industrial cannabis and industrial cannabis is where we believe that St. Lucia will have a competitive advantage in in the short term specifically if you look at the area of unemployment and the available skills in our marketplace to uptake into that sector. I think Mr. Emmanuel is quite clear on that. My other question is in relation because people will be displaced hopefully my concern is that it is in relation to the Rastafari community still again. Well again I want to say I represent the Rastafari ICA and the Nyobinghi house in St. Lucia. Those people who are actually those livelihoods most probably that might that might shift in a different way not as it is right now what is in place in terms of addressing those livelihoods because there are some people actually it will become a legal framework but there are some people who actually they live by this cannabis. The holiday of vacation in the states is cannabis dollars there's the school books the school uniform whatever as far as the education of the children is concerned is the cannabis dollars the clothes they wear the doctor's visit is the cannabis dollar so the concern the concerns real concern about how they will be dealt with in relation to that this livelihood. I'm happy you brought up that point because we had we had there was an omission on our end. The traditional cultivation license which was been envisaged for the legislation also permits a church or religious entity to apply for that traditional cultivation license and that would this facilitate the the Rastafarian community if they were to opt to get a license in the name of the community to apply for the traditional cultivation license as opposed to individuals doing so that's one and two the Rastafarian community has formed part of the task force from its inception and form part of the the committee that was the precursor to this task force so we've been taking instructions from the Rastafarian community for quite some time to ensure that the legislative regime does not pass them by it is one of the reasons that though the legislation cannot allow for sacramental use based on the restrictions placed by the INCV it is one of the reasons that use of cannabis within the confines of the house of worship of the Rastafarians is permitted because we understand based on our discussions with them some of the difficulties that they face and some of the rights that we want to ensure from part and parcel of this regime. The other question and concern again is education. I'm very much concerned about education because going from an illegal to a legal film there must be a loss of education and what is in place in terms of sensitizing the community in relation to this kind of abuse and the different changes and other other education methodologies apart from this panel discussion hoping to come soon. And we will be having town hall meetings and other engagements throughout the communities and that is specifically on the bill and how the new regime is envisaged. What we can tell you is that the majority of persons from our research who are using or who have used cannabis have been self-experimenting very few have had any specific reason to use cannabis. Now that is what existed in the prohibited environment. Say for the Rastafarians who have a sacramental use and other persons who may have a medical reason the education first will be able to now because it's no longer a prohibited substance and it's now a regulated substance be able to dedicate resources to properly educate the population as to what is cannabis how it should be used what are the benefits of cannabis what are the restrictions of cannabis what are the prohibitions with regard to cannabis and that has it's part of what we consider this major societal shift. Currently there is no legal state mechanism to educate anyone with regard to cannabis. The reason why I ask a question because also I do some kind of chaplains you work at Bodily and the question has been asked by the inmates or the residents of Bodily and I need information so here's the reason why you now have to be well equipped as far as information is concerned. Definitely. Thanks. I want to say well I give thanks and to the almighty for a good well done your job well done by the cannabis task force. Good representation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to our panelists Mr. Dylan Norbert English and Mr. Vinnie Manuel for participating in today's panel discussion and also thank you to the St. Lucia cannabis task force. I want to wish everyone a pleasant day and thank you very much for attending our discussion today. Thank you. Thank you. The panel, the discussion, an objective and impartial view of the issues of interest to you. Nation Beat is on now.