 I am certain that we are here this afternoon as a result of a voice note which no pun intended but has been blazing up over social media. You would recall at the last parliament session last week I read a statement given what was a summary of the various consultations that were held with various agencies by the commission that had been set up to look into the whole cannabis subject. In that statement I also indicated that I would have been going to cabinet for a decision on the way forward. But yesterday's cabinet meeting there was consensus with regards to one, authorizing the Ministry of Commerce and the Attorney General Chambers to draft the legislative and regulatory framework to assist in the implementation of a cannabis industry. That also included looking at personal use, religious use and medicinal use. We also included in that for us to look at scientific research and also to set up a sort of a licensed regime to govern the industry. The commission was also given for us to look into the expunge of records of people who had been incarcerated charged with amounts less than 30 grams without having a violent attachment to it. So this is what that was actually authorized by cabinet yesterday. I spoke to Mr. De Carius this morning as a member of the commission and also we would know him as a member of the Cannabis Commission as well because he was one of the people who had been pursuing what was cabinet's decision and I indicated to him exactly what I have stated this morning. I can appreciate that Mr. De Carius in all of his exuberance because Mr. De Carius has been one who has been at the helm of fighting for a different outlook on the whole cannabis industry for many years. I think over 20 years he has been at the forefront and I guess he jumped ahead and shared information with his colleagues and I noted in the voice note that he spoke to full legalization. I have since called on Mr. De Carius and said I never indicated to you full legalization exactly what I have said to you this morning was the scope of our discussion. So this is where we are. We would all be familiar that when a matter is sent to the AG's chambers what comes out is a sort of a draft framework. That draft framework would not only be reviewed by, well subsequently it will come to cabinet but it will have to be reviewed by various agencies for example the Bar Association and other agencies who put in in terms of reviewing these things and giving us their feedback and then we go to cabinet with that final decision and cabinet also reviews the draft legislation in terms of going forward to Parliament. So this is where we are and the work has just started as it relates to formalizing that framework. I'm open for any questions from the media if there's any question as it relates to a legal opinion I would lean to my legal officer in the ministry who is also a member of the Commission Mr. Dylan Norbert English who would also be able to better inform on that subject. In terms of a timeline for the drafting, how long will that take? You know I have learned that I don't give timelines because I've gotten in trouble before for giving timelines but as I said there are several countries in the Caribbean who have passed their own legislative framework in terms of dealing with that so it's not a matter of reinventing the wheel. As a government I think what will happen is we will lean on the experiences from the various jurisdictions and identify the one best suited for our country. Do we have any idea of when anything like that may actually come into place as well as the members of the cannabis movement in the Shah have been asking for kind of pausing on arresting people for non-ban and cannabis offenses. Is that anything that would actually happen in the short term? The refrain is sort of a moratorium before the actual no that has not actually been discussed it may when the AG commences his work depending on the time we recognize that we may decide to come back and make a decision on that but I will I will be out of place to give an answer to that at this point. You would all you would be familiar of the case in San Quetz where is it the last San Quota I think it was who took the the Commissioner of Police to it was it was the Commissioner of Police versus it was versus the Commissioner AG well you may be right I guess and and he actually won his case and I from from my understanding we also have two pending cases in San Lucia as it relates to to to to that as well so that would be a very interesting development in terms of you know how we move forward as well. Do you have any concerns that the police because I mean the Commissioner has indicated that they will still be carrying out a risk as usual as you know in adherence to the existing law. Marijuana is still illegal and it is still unless unless they this has gone through all the stages it is still illegal and so I would caution anybody out there with regards to you know taking the voice note or that hurdle as we as we call it to thinking that it's a it's a green light to to do as you please it is not in fact the the whole framework would also include a number of things which includes smoking in public it would also include not selling marijuana in public spaces the distance to schools in which you can actually smoke or there is a lot it's really about the whole privacy in addressing in addressing your smoking smoking cannabis. I know there's there will be also a look as it relates to the Rastafarian community and using marijuana as a sacrament and that also will be looked at in its own in its own timing and space as to how it's dealt with. With regard to the statements just made by minister I want to make it clear that there is a stark difference in the development of legislation and the development of policy and framework. We are currently at a stage of the development of policy and framework which will look at the discussions for the matters surrounding cannabis and industry in cannabis. So after you have developed a policy and a framework that goes through your consultative process you speak to your stakeholders and you determine from there how you develop your legislation for cannabis. So we are quite some some ways away from having anything on the books for cannabis. Is there and you said you're some ways away but we've seen that we've been talking about the work of the commission for quite a while we're still in the policy stages do you know when we'll graduate from the legislative stage? No we cannot say we have to wait on the AG's chambers who's assisting with the development of that framework. So what can we expect to come out of that for policy process? Well understanding as to how we will be developing our industry for cannabis we cannot see as of today that you will be able to have X amount of cannabis on your post so know that it will be legal for this purpose or that purpose that comes into your policy as you'd appreciate what a policy document is. So after a policy document has been approved then you develop your legislative framework and then your legislation. I mean let's say for the past year at least that we were close we were very close we had a white paper from the cannabis movement which morphed into a white paper handed to a third party an intermediary was per mandu to present to the government. Do you in your heart believe that the government has wasted time on this on this issue in the past year? So because I'm not sure my colleagues we felt like late last year we heard all the talks we felt like we gave us on the horizon very soon but now we're hearing we still have the consultative phase which we thought we went through already and other phases so can you do you believe that time has been wasted on this on this matter? I indicating making a statement waste of time I think is an unfair statement because we cannot rush into anything as sensitive as you know either decriminalizing legalizing cannabis industry there are a number of issues that have must be looked at foremost in all of that is the whole education that has that that we have been been addressing. In addition to that the licensing structure what what really do we want to get out of it? From an invest interest standpoint we see it as an industry okay where you can you could extract oils and process and we have we have quite a few external parties who have indicated interest in assisting in that regard so in terms of the farmers who will be the ones planting as it relates to you know what's the acreage it cannot be something that we can make a decision overnight there's I agree with you there's been a lot of information that has come to the fore but at the end of the day we have to satisfy the legal requirements in terms of pushing this agenda forward. And what sort of resistance are we getting with the consultation so far I know we have the public health groups parents the PTAs and these other has there been any resistance to decriminalization efforts? From the various reports I have received so far I think everybody is on the same page that we must have a regulated environment I don't think there are two ways about that you must have a regulated environment the concerns have been will this environment make the the the obtaining of marijuana in terms of miners using marijuana in terms of how it's going to be used generally I think these are the kind of concerns people are concerned about whether you in terms of your your your medical health bill at the end of the day will this will you see a spike in that what is in place for people who may may may may may use marijuana for the first time and develop certain psychotic responses so these are the kind of concerns that have been raised as as it relates to any environment where where you decriminalize or you legalize is the are there going to be any more town hall meetings by the commission or is that phase I think that's it that that is that is the end of the time hall meetings yes because you would appreciate there was quite a bit going around the island further to that we had the individual consultations with various groups plus we had the national consultation live via NTN so there have been quite a bit and and I think in terms of the process having been started somewhere early in 2018 former the minister of home affairs was first I'm in charge of the process then then it was passed on to to to me as the minister of invest and lucha and I think today we are we are here where we are you know as it relates to all of the various consultations and all of the conversations that have that have taken place in terms of children using the substance as it is right now they can get access to it and it's illegal when it becomes legal or if and when it becomes legal are you how can you assure parents guardians that the system will prevent them from having access to it and that is the whole thrust of of the education aspect of it as well in addition to that there's a very specific area that speaks to marijuana coming into the hands of minors not I cannot speak to you right now I don't know if you you want to speak to it but there is there is quite a bit that has been put forward by the various consultations as it relates to protecting minors did the constitutional claim put forth by anything to do with the consensus by the cabinet members no no in fact um I was only made aware of that um that um pending case this morning um but I'm aware of the the case in St. Gates I'm working at that time I'm working at that time and maybe to speak to the case and maybe president um on the point of minors um we have at the commission level had sealants in our minds throughout the process that we did not want cannabis to be in the hands of minors we do accept that currently the youth have access to cannabis but when you have a framework that that completely prohibits use of cannabis in any way it's difficult for you to say that it's prohibited entirely and it's also prohibited if you sell it to youth if you were to have a framework that either legalizes or decriminalizes then you can have penalties for persons who step beyond the legalized framework or the decriminalized framework so if you have a license for you to sell cannabis for example under a legalized or decriminalized framework and you are prohibited from selling to somebody under the age of 20 18 25 whatever age that the the unpolicy dictates then you may lose your license which would then make it difficult for you to sell to other persons so the considerations are then deeper than just breaking the law as it stands now you mean I get numerous students who somehow have access to alcohol every day well that that is an issue that we are looking at as well we had we did keep in mind that their issues with the current alcohol regime and the licensing regime I only wanted to make sure the cannabis regime did not suffer the same issues