BUSINESS CORNER
St. Vincent and the Grenadines scoops up
the island’s first-ever licenses to cultivate
commercial medical cannabis
Local and international
businesses in the southern
Caribbean nation of St. Vincent
and the Grenadines scooped up
that island’s first-ever licenses
to cultivate commercial medical
cannabis, the nation’s marijuana
regulator announced.
Hundreds more are in the
pipeline, demonstrating
significant interest in the new
industry there and across the
Caribbean.
Ten companies with board
members from Canada, the
Caribbean, Europe and Africa
were among those who won the
first new licenses.
The remaining 24 went to
local individual farmers or
farming cooperatives with an
aggregate membership of over
100 cultivators, according to a
statement from the Medicinal
Cannabis Authority (MCA).
The MCA expects to approve
200 more cultivation licenses by
September 1, 2019.
To lay the legal groundwork for
the sector, parliament approved
the Medicinal Cannabis Industry
Act late last year.
The law is very comprehensive
and came with the regulations
inserted, significantly reducing
the time it took to get the
industry off the ground.
The regulations provide a
framework for medical cannabis
businesses to:
•
•
•
•
•
Cultivate
Transport
Manufacture products
Sell
Conduct research and
development
• Import
• Export
To facilitate those activities, the
types of licenses granted by the
MCA include cultivation (five
levels), research, manufacture,
dispense, import, export and
transport.
The first licenses were only
recently awarded partly because
the MCA had to get a handle
on how it would regulate the
cultivation, supply, possession
and use of medicinal marijuana in
the country.
Acres Agricultural Canada won
one of the licenses, and the
30 SL-YOU | It’s All About Business
company plans to cultivate 300
acres of land through its local
subsidiary, Acres Agricultural
(SVG).
“It’s seismic not just for Acres
but for St. Vincent and the
Grenadines,” CEO Patrick Power
said in a statement.
The law also lays out rules for use
– banning simple possession in
places such as public transit and
in private residences used as day
cares. Consumption is similarly
banned in those places, plus in
public spaces, motorized vehicles
and on boats.
Cultivation license fees range
from $2.67 million Eastern
Caribbean dollars (roughly US$1
million) for a Class E permit to
EC$100,000 for Class A.
Medical cannabis can be
prescribed by doctors and
dispensed only in authorized
pharmacies. Individual
prescriptions can’t exceed a 30-
day supply.
The regulations designate a
long list of qualifying medical
conditions, which include
multiple sclerosis, sleep disorders
and chronic pain.
www.slyoumag.com | September-October 2019