Saint Lucia’s new cannabis regulator says two cornerstone bills are before Cabinet and could pass before year-end, setting up a licensing framework that prioritises legacy cultivators, and channels the industry’s value through a central trading entity.

Dylan Norbert-Inglis, CEO of the Regulated Substances Authority (RSA) explained that Saint Lucia’s Regulated Substances Cannabis Bill and a complementary Drug Prevention and Misuse (Cannabis Amnesty) Bill have cleared the drafting stage. 

“The Regulated Substances Cannabis Bill has been completed. It is now with the ministers of Cabinet for review before the passage of the legislation for cannabis. We also have the Drug Prevention and Misuse Cannabis Amnesty Bill, which is with the Cabinet of ministers for approval for reading in Parliament.”

He framed the measures as the culmination of multi-year, iterative work adding that this was “on the cusp of the last five years of the work we have done on the cannabis regime”,  noting the RSA had “gone through eight or nine drafts of the bill…”

A central feature to this bill is the amnesty and on-ramp for legacy participants: “When that bill is passed, any individual who is cultivating or supplying cannabis can come forward and say, ‘I am involved in the cannabis industry.’ A verification will be done, and an amnesty will be given so that your involvement in the industry will not subject you to any business process. You will not be arrested and charged. All will be recognised that you were involved in the industry. From there, you will be deemed a legacy cannabis operator.”

He continued: “All the Legacy Cannabis Operators (LCOs) have special treatment under the cannabis legislation. The license fees, for example, for a cultivation license or a dispensary license are very different for an LCO than they would be for someone else.”

To keep value in Saint Lucia and spread benefits beyond brick-and-mortar licensees, Norbert-Inglis highlighted a Central Trading Entity (CTE) model. 

“Unlike the other islands… we have something called a Central Trading Entity where every cannabis plant that is propagated in Saint Lucia is either sold to that entity, or royalties have to be paid to that entity for having cultivated in Saint Lucia. Legacy operators have a right to be purchased into that entity,” he explained. 

“The thinking is that if you are an individual who is currently a juggler, and you do not have the financial wherewithal to set up a brick and mortar… you can still get an amnesty, you can still be deemed a legacy operator, and you can buy shares in the CTE,” he said. 

“If an investor comes into the country tomorrow… These individuals, when they come into Saint Lucia, they will have to pay royalties to the CTE for cultivating in Saint Lucia. And these same legacy operators will receive dividends from these investors having come in.”

The RSA is also aligning its rollout with capacity building.

 “We have now started to benefit from training for our officers held in Barbados,” he said. “Just to ensure that we have the resources and capabilities at least to administer the regime for cannabis.”

He tied the country’s next steps to a clear near-term timeline.

“From our vantage point in Saint Lucia, we are hoping before the end of the year to have the passage of these two pieces of legislation, that being the Amnesty and the Regulated Substances Cannabis Bill,” he said. 

“As soon as these pieces of legislation are passed… we hope to start to roll out the process of license application, verification, mentoring, if need be, and then the establishment of the full chain of cannabis processing and sale in Saint Lucia.” – Tracy Moore