Bermuda’s House of Assembly has again passed controversial legislation making it legal to grow and sell cannabis in Bermuda, a British Overseas Territory, but it remains to be seen whether the Governor gives it the royal assent.
Twelve months ago, the legislation was blocked in the Senate, but the Upper House cannot do so again. The Cannabis Licensing Act 2022 will create a regulated framework for the growth and sale of the drug.
A series of licenses will be available through a licensing authority, allowing people to not only possess more of the drug, but also to grow, harvest, sell, and export it. The bill was introduced this time by Home Affairs Minister Walter Roban, who was standing in for Attorney-General Kathy Lynn Simmons.
In a repeat of the speech that Simmons delivered in the House a year ago, Roban said the illegality of cannabis was “an unjust colonial legacy” and evidence of “systemic, racialized disparities” where black people were criminalized by a white oligarchy. He added that changes to the law were “long overdue."
Read more at caribbeannationalweekly.com