UPDATE: In a release issued Tuesday, July 23, Government House said Mr. Bryan has only nominated four individuals to the board, which is charged under Act 8167 with creating the regulations and policies governing the medical marijuana industry in the territory.
ST. CROIX — Since the medicinal marijuana bill was signed into law by Governor Albert Bryan earlier this year, the wheels have been turning to start in earnest the legal sale of the medicine derived from the drug in the territory. According to Former Senator Positive Nelson, speaking to The Consortium on Saturday, Mr. Bryan recently forwarded to the Senate the names of 9 individuals selected to be part of the regulatory board, called the Office of Cannabis Regulation (O.C.R.), as required by law, to govern the industry in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Once approved by the Senate, Mr. Nelson — the current Dept. of Agriculture commissioner who was also chosen to be a member of the board — said a tentative set of rules should be in place by the end of October, which should then pave the way for entrepreneurs to start offering medicinal marijuana to patients.
Mr. Nelson has been the biggest proponent of marijuana — whether for medical or recreational use — in the U.S. Virgin Islands. In fact it is safe to say that if it were not for the former senator, whose bill became law after years of debate and delays, medicinal marijuana in the USVI would have been a far off dream by advocates.
Yet even with the law now in place, a lot of work to successfully establish the industry in the territory remains, and Mr. Nelson and others have been working to educate those who wish to become involved — education that Mr. Nelson said should be taken up by the O.C.R. once created.
Imparting of knowledge was the reason for Saturday’s CannaVal, an all-day conference held at the St. Croix Educational Complex to educate persons interested in starting their own medicinal marijuana operation in the territory. It was also for persons who simply wanted to know more, and for health practitioners.
On location Saturday were experts on the subject from across the U.S. who spoke to an audience in the school’s auditorium about marijuana itself, its history in the U.S., and about the industry and what could sometimes be a painstaking process to startup a marijuana-related business, as the drug is still prohibited by the federal government.
The experts shared “some of the same things that I’ve been saying, but now you’re hearing additional experts saying this,” Mr. Nelson said.
A major part of any successful medical marijuana industry is the participation of health practitioners, who will be authorized to recommend (not prescribe) the medicine to patients. But there were not that many in attendance on Saturday, presumably because of the conservative history of the territory as it relates to marijuana. “We understand that it’s going to take some education,” Mr. Nelson said. A similar event will be held in October, though as mentioned before Mr. Nelson is hoping that the board will take up the role of education once created.
During the interview, Mr. Nelson made a point of stating that he would not neglect his role of Dept. of Agriculture commissioner to be consumed by all things marijuana.
“I’m not going to get lost in trying to be the commissioner of cannabis. I am the commissioner of Agriculture and I understand that role well,” he said. “However I definitely believe that I can add to the [medicinal marijuana] conversation being on the board.”
Who’s prepared to invest?
Mr. Nelson said a lot of locals have expressed interest in becoming business owners in the cannabis industry. The law creates some advantages for this: It requires that someone live in the U.S. Virgin Islands for five years before becoming eligible to obtain a medicinal cannabis license here. “It’s an intent to protect [locals] understanding that we are part of the free enterprise of the United States. I think we have made an effort and through regulations, we can do a little more tweaking without going outside of the boundaries of the U.S. Constitution,” he said.
Will the Dept. of Agriculture lease land for marijuana cultivation?
The Government of the Virgin Islands, through the Dept. of Agriculture, leases land to farmers in the territory to cultivate vegetation and livestock. However, Mr. Nelson said there will be no similar programs to potential marijuana cultivators.
“Let me make it clear right now, this is intended to be a private industry and we want to preserve our farmlands for food. The government leases land to the Dept. of Agriculture right now and it’s not going to be used for the cultivating of marijuana,” he said.
Mr. Nelson added, “Hemp is now considered an agriculture commodity, and I guess at some point we might allow for hemp, but we’re not going to have medicinal cannabis.”
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