Prime Minister Allen Chastanet says Saint Lucia is moving towards decriminalizing marijuana
(SNO) — Saint Lucia will be decriminalizing cannabis, Prime Minister Allen Chastanet has told The Saint Lucia Star newspaper.
During an interview with the newspaper last week, Chastanet said the agreement was reached after “good meetings” last year.
“We had some very good meetings before Christmas and we’ve agreed that we’ll be going through a process of decriminalization,” he stated.
Statistics provided by The Star Newspaper, show there has been a dramatic drop in marijuana-related court charges from 2013 to 2017 at 217, 101, 82, 107 and 132, respectively.
Chastanet said that his government is speaking to several companies concerning the matter including cultivating the now-illegal herb for medicinal purposes.
“It’s still very unclear how big that market is going to be, and whether its going to be a completely legal market; what’s going to be the rules regulating the cross-border exportation of hemp. So we’re speaking to several companies in hopes that we can make that happen,” Chastanet told The Star.
