A controversial law to legalise cannabis will be sent back to the House of Assembly after Senators voted against the bill yesterday afternoon.
The Cannabis Licensing Act, which sets out a regulatory framework for growing, selling, and using the drug, was passed by MPs two weeks ago.
But senators rejected the legislation by six votes to five in the Upper House, handing a major defeat to the Progressive Labour Party just months after it was re-elected in October with an historic 24-seat majority.
Today, Kathy Lynn Simmons, the Attorney-General, who tabled the Bill in the House of Assembly two weeks ago, criticised senators who had voted against it.
She said Government will press forward with the Bill despite the setback, and said the naysayers had gone against the wishes of the country. She said: “Yesterday the Cannabis Licensing Bill 2021, which was developed after the most extensive public consultation exercise in recent memory, was defeated in the Senate after being approved by the people’s elected representatives in the House of Assembly."
Read more at royalgazette.com