Medical cannabis licenses approved and issued

Press release:

The first licenses to cultivate medical marijuana in St. Vincent have been issued to:

-Eight local farmers' producer cooperatives with an aggregated membership of over 100 traditional cultivators:
Nyahbinghy Order of Rastafari
RastafariFarms
Cannabis Revival Committee (CRC)
SVG RastafariAgri
Grieggs Rastafari progressive society
FancyCooperative
Herbs R Us
South Rivers Producers' Cooperative

-Thirteen traditional cultivators of cannabis who applied individually;

-Three non-traditional local farmers, consisting of one Class A (valuing EC$500) and two Class B (valuing EC$2,500 each);

-Ten companies with the directorship of nationals from the OECS, CARICOM, North America, Europe and Africa. These got the following licenses:

• One Class A (valuing $100,000) which allows for cultivation of up to one acre of land and is valid for one year.
• One Class B (valuing EC$250,000 each) valid for 2 years
• Three Class C (valuing EC$500,000 each) which allows for cultivation of up to 25 acres of land and is valid for three years.
• Two Class D (valuing EC$1 million each), which allows for cultivation of up to 100 acres of land and is valid for four years.
• Three Class E licenses (valuing EC$2.67 million each), which allows for cultivation of up to 300 acres of land and is valid for five years.

These license holders have to pay upfront, in the first year, an EC$250,000 food security authorization fee “so that we can use that money to help to strengthen our food security, because we could grow ganja [marijuana] but we can’t eat ganja,” Gonsalves said.

In addition to supplying the local demand, these companies have identified markets in CARICOM, North America and Europe for export of high-quality medicinal cannabis products that meet international standards.


Based on the applications currently under review, it is projected that by September 1, 2019, an additional 200 traditional cultivators will obtain cultivation licenses.
The Medicinal Cannabis Authority (MCA) acting on the advice of the Cabinet, will subsequently announce the date for the operationalization of the Cannabis Cultivation (Amnesty) Act. Sensitization meetings will recommence July 24, 2019, to update the general public of activities taking place within the medicinal cannabis industry.