The government is set to launch public consultations on proposed medicinal marijuana legislation.

It plans to announce today a website for the publication of the bills that would effect the medicinal marijuana regime.

Those bills include the Cannabis Bill, a Bill to Amend the Dangerous Drugs Act and a Bill to Amend the Pharmacy Act.

Additionally, the government plans to put on the site various consultation documents regarding the establishment of a cannabis industry, including the report of the CARICOM Regional Commission on Marijuana 2018 and the report of the commission appointed under the Minnis administration to examine the establishment of such a regime.

The website launch is scheduled to take place at the Office of the Prime Minister this morning.

"We have a compendium of legislation we believe is in a satisfactory state," said Minister of Health Dr. Michael Darville, who was contacted by The Nassau Guardian yesterday on the matter.

"We are ready to launch the website and put all of the compendium of bills, the public consultation, inclusive of the CARICOM report ... and then there is another report that was done by the former administration, so on this website all of this information will be there for public consultation and public consumption, for feedback, criticism, advice, whatever it may be.

"And then after we launch that we're going to take a couple of weeks' break and then we'll start our public consultation in the capital and some of the Family Islands and Grand Bahama."

Ahead of the 2021 general election, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in "Our Blueprint for Change" promised to develop a cannabis industry if elected.

The party said it would "develop a comprehensive regulatory framework for growing, harvesting, and exporting cannabis, so that the industry creates opportunities for many, not just a few".

It committed to encouraging joint-ventures in the medicinal cannabis industry.

The party also said it would "ensure that ALL Bahamians are given full access to development, and have a fair opportunity to become owners in this new industry".

Additionally, it said it would "develop robust regulations to strictly monitor and minimize the impact on our international reputation".

Speaking while in opposition, PLP Leader Philip Brave Davis said while a PLP government would create a regulatory framework for the growing and exporting of marijuana to the world market and also consider legalizing medical marijuana, the party had reservations about legalizing the drug for recreational use.

Yesterday, Darville stressed, "We're only speaking about medical marijuana. This has nothing to do with recreational. This is strictly medical marijuana, how it's being used, how

we propose to go to training, the amendments to the legislation, what it means."

He revealed the government is proposing to take cannabis off the dangerous drugs list and put it as a controlled substance to make way for decriminalization

"We know the importance of medical marijuana and we want our patients to access these therapies, so our job is to take it off the dangerous drugs list and put it on the controlled substance list and when we do that, what we're saying is we're going to approve cannabis as a medical therapy which will make way for us to be able to cultivate it because it would no longer be illegal to do research, to do all the other factors associated with what has been going on throughout the region. A lot of work has gone into this," Darville said, though he added he did not want to preempt today's launch.

He also noted, "There are 70 countries in the world that have already passed legislation for medical marijuana.

"We're not reinventing the wheel. All we want is to make sure we create an industry and access the medical marijuana that we believe is in the best interest of the Bahamian people and safe, because the legislation speaks specifically to prohibiting the use to the pediatric and adolescent population and pregnant women because we know the tracts of the brain are not developed in the adolescent groups. And so, if you begin to use marijuana on a chronic basis and a high concentration of THC, you can actually damage neurological tracts."

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