St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris
By Melanius Alphonse
Caribbean News Now associate managing editor
[email protected]
BASSETERRE, St Kitts – The case involving Alkiviades David a US citizen, who was charged with illegal importation into St Kitts for possession of cannabis, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, importation of cannabis and importation of a restricted item, spoke to local media and gave his initial reasons for traveling to St Kitts; and indicated that talks with Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris broke down after “he asked me [David] to do something that I did not wish to do.”
David and Chase Ergen announced recently they had formed a consortium aimed at developing cannabis businesses in Eastern Caribbean nations such as St Kitts-Nevis, Dominica and Antigua. Plans include purchasing agricultural land and partnering with farmers to create a cooperative entity modelled after the ones in Switzerland.
“When we arrived,” David said, “I really thought we were going to be well received. At the time, our partner on the ground, Dr Denzil Douglas, …was going to be arrested, then simultaneously we were treated very badly. In fact, my partner Chase was originally charged with a drugs charge, drugs suspicion that was finally tested, turns out it wasn’t narcotics. It was, in fact, his medicine and he’s still being detained for arguing with a police officer. I didn’t expect that.” David added, “this issue was blown out of proportion.
“We contacted the authorities. We put out a press release the week before; we contacted the customs officials, we thought we filed the form on the plane that we were bringing in hemp. We made lots of advance notice. Nobody responded by the way, from [the] St Kitts airport. From our understanding, the law in St Kitts is the same as the British law. It’s exactly the same as the British law. It can be the Drug Act, it’s the same Act as…
