Cannabis orders pouring in!
As the government waits for Governor Augustus Jaspert’s decision on the Cannabis Licensing Bill, Agriculture Minister Dr Natalio Wheatley has said orders are already flowing in from interested persons seeking to cash in on the BVI’s medicinal marijuana industry.
“It’s hurting us. I’ve had persons contact me and tell me how many litres of distillate from the marijuana that they want to order from the BVI and how much they are willing to pay for it. So we already have orders ready,” Dr Wheatley told host Claude Skelton-Cline on the Honestly Speaking radio programme on October 23.
Recently, Premier Andrew Fahie said the BVI was losing millions in revenue as it waits for the Governor to make a decision on the Cannabis Licensing Bill.
Dr Wheatley yesterday reiterated the Premier’s sentiments, saying he has many constituents who could benefit from work in the cannabis industry as they struggle to make ends meet in this COVID-19 era.
“I have lots of person in my district who are suffering without a job and we have a potential source of revenue in COVID-19 period because this industry is completely resilient in the midst of COVID-19. It can provide us with employment, business opportunities as tourism is suffering at the moment,” Dr Wheatley explained.
He added that the government hasn’t received a good reason why the bill hasn’t been approved as yet, except that “they’re still looking at it”.
“I’m really at a loss as to why it hasn’t been assent to,” Dr Wheatley expressed.
He added: “The United Kingdom showing themselves to be a good partner with the people of the Virgin Islands, they would help us develop our economy not hurt our economy.”
Dr Wheatley said the lack of assent to the vital Cannabis Licensing Bill is just one example of the impact that British colonialism has on the BVI, adding that it limits the government’s ability to make vital decisions in the best interest of the people.
“After you go through this whole democratic process, you have debates, you educate the people, you make changes based on what the public says. You go through the first, second and third reading. You go through all of that and then you have one man who can just say none of what you did matters. If we’re not satisfied with it for whatever reason, that entire process will be for nothing,” Dr Wheatley said
The Cannabis Licensing Act sets the framework for the establishment of a medical marijuana industry in the BVI. It was approved by the House of Assembly in July of this year.
Governor Jaspert who will demit office in early 2021 recently told BVI News that he is still considering the Cannabis Licensing Bill.
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Why is it members of his district are willing to grow weed, but not food, If they are hurting so bad? This guy thinks pot will save our economy? He need to do more research.
If this does receive ascent, they better have loads of safeguards in place to ensure the revenues and all product are protected and accounted for. I foresee gross abuse, with vast sums unaccounted and lost of new boats and expensive cars driving around.
The LOVE of MONEY is the root of all evil
If they allow persons to grow a few plants legally at home then the export product would be even more secure.
People would learn responsibility, gain experience in planting crops & the people on the street would save more money to put towards other areas.
Yes it can but you are talking like you can have product for buyer by tomorrow? It’s a process sir. Not an over night venture.
I used to smoke but stop when i got my daughter.
I hope the governor dont allow this to be law. I want my family to not be stained by drugs.
Did you stain your family with your own “drug” use?
How did you get the thing that you used to smoke?
How were you able to quit if it was addictive?
Are you able to function and have a family & contribute to society now?
What exactly were you smoking?
Once you start asking questions things start to make ore sense.
Yep. I smoked but good now an have my daughter which was what made me get off weed. Pay my tax. How bout you?
So some people want my family an them to have to deal with
drugs that almost finished me lost my job and my wife. That’s really sad. Good to see most ppl get it.
No people implying you were smoking more substances than what you claim. And due to your inability to own up to it you want to tell us tales.
Who loses their job or wife over weed? Alcohol and cocaine more like it.
Not that I need to explain but since you want to know.
I never too nothing but weed an it make me paranoid. My boss fire me cos i was not focussed and so i had no money so my wife went down island to work. Now i am clean and have a new job and raise my daughter.
That’s me an my screw up. What your reason for being an a**hole?
That is more to do with individual professionalism than one substance. Same way people dont usually drink on the job or burn cigs when they know it will be a problem.
Smoking weed ain’t for everybody..
He ent going assent to it, so it can be amended , re-amended, tweeked and the likes but….
Me no dat is some persons handiwork, so we goin see what we get do…but nah looking gud !!!
Lemme tell you what else nah luk gud.
Add 48 not to your year of birth , but lets see if you can guess mines and what do you get
next
fb- There was a photo with 3
Clothing made the colours of two flags, like his and hers
top his bottom hers
What is d predominant colour in his
What is d predominant colour is hers
Understand
The vision is quite strong and true
But it not engraved on stone
And can be changed
He will have to check with the UK on this one. They have bureaucracy like everywhere else. It will take some time. Meanwhile how much are these orders for? About. A days income for the slowly being destroyed charter boat industry is my guess.
You have no cannabis to sell and orders pouring in. Do you really think everyone is that stupid. You know nothing about growing medicinal cannabis, processing it or selling it. Are the grow houses built? Yes, medicinal cannabis needs to be grown in grow houses. Do you have the processing equipment? You have nothing and you spout nothing. Only trying to drag the great Governor down with you bulls**t. If your so called orders are true, publish the list, quantity and who the buyers are. Otherwise STF down. It’s better to keep you mouth shut and let people THINK you’re stupid then to open it and remove all doubt. Pass this advice on to the Foy.
You have no clue what so ever so don’t come lecturing the officials who do not know much but know more than you.
Also this is a COVID resistant sector. People use this for medicine as well as therapeutic relaxation and it needs to become cheaper and safer than what is on the street that came from who knows where & with no papers to show it was grown without pesticides or fertilizer & soils with heavy metals.
They don’t want investors coming in with work force they want vi people on the farms growing it.
Secondly it does not need to be grown indoors that is common sense. Plants grow outside with sunlight being stronger than artificial lights.
Thirdly all cannabis is naturally medicinal period. Who ever doesnt want it leave it and no one will force you to take it.
When you Or your loved ones get into medical problems you may have a change of heart.
Ok. So you’re not very well versed in horticulture. Thanks for showing that to us.
Grow houses, with ARTIFICIAL light have been shown to produce more healthy and higher numbers of a crop that sunlight. Lighting provides consistent and steady amounts needed to grow crops. The sun doesn’t shine 24 hours a day now does it? Hmmm
Sunlight is free. And plants benefit from a dark period.
When you plant with the environment in mind you realize that plants grown naturally from sunlight are cheaper and offset carbon emissions.
Plus more importantly:
You can not grow weed on 24 hours of sun light for its entire cycle. You will never get it to flower unless it is an autoflower.
“Medicinal Canabis is not the same as regular weed, go and do some research.”
Iv done my research. Whether you want to grow high cbd, cbg or high thc cultivars the difference is the genetics and they both grow the same way creating two diverse end products.
Come again without the Ad hominem attacks. Refute my claims with evidence please.
Tell us expert why then are they growing recreational & medicinal cannabis in the US outdoors every year. The outdoor US hemp harvest is being harvested & cured right now.
Cannabis plants produce better flowers / buds when exposed to the full light spectrum, aka sunlight. Indoor growing can be more efficient and produce strong product but nothing beats the sunshine for a full range of benefits.
it’s the consistency that really makes the difference between artificial lighting and sunlight. If we want consistency of our product which we WILL need if we we ever plan to export..
What we will need are greenhouses that use sunlight during the day and then use artificial light at night when the sun goes down to prolong the vegetative phase of the plant. Without 12+ hours of sunlight the plant will flower prematurely and have reduced yields. Once the plant is ready to transition out of the vegetative stage and into the flowering stage, the artificial light can then be turned off and only be used on cloudy days or when its raining and the sun don’t shine. We cannot simply plant outdoors and achieve consistency in our product with unpredictable weather patterns. We need some form of a controlled environment. However, that that being said Artificial light will NEVER be better or stronger than the sun.
Outdoor>Indoor
Organic and Sunlight
Medicinal Canabis is not the same as regular weed, go and do some research.
You obviously been smokin too much bad shit. You have no clue about medicinal cannabis and are as ignorant as the government officials pushing for it. First, those in power see this as their own piggy bank as there will be no way anyone will be able to track what’s going on. In other words it will be stealing with no oversight. Second, since there is no expertise in how to grow and process medicinal cannabis, the harvest will just be sold on the streets. Sooo, the government should just legalize marijuana period or keep their scheming mouths shut.
But who is the scientist that is going to be working on this project?
If the cap fit. Let him wear it!!
I laughed at the headline and didn’t bother reading the lies (whoever ordering must be high on something)
Boy, I was wondering the same thing. These people are pi**ing on our heads and calling it rain. You when you start selling a product you don’t have or own, it’s called FRAUD.
These people can’t even keep track of their lies! How orders pouring in and it supposed to be ONE person they dealing with that they don’t want to reveal in a Government that proves itself on being transparent!
I KNOW A LOT ABOUT THIS BUSINESS! The cost associated with buildout vs what they want to pay the farmers is 10x worse than the BatesHill Deal! They claim the pay structure is based on paying the investor back for footing the cost of the buildout, which is foolishness! By doing business with one vendor instead of the open market you’re relegating the country into indentured servitude while the Government receives their cut off the top!
There is a huge difference between growing the local, weed marijuana and medicinal. Two strains may be somewhat similar, but the medicinal hemp is genetically modified to increase the active content dramatically. What reputable processors are going to waste their time using a very inferior product as their starting point?
This scheme reminds me clearly of the “greenhouse” hydroponic catastrophe that the VIP party proposed, very expensively, in the past. When will they realize, before committing to a new “industry” to do their research to discover accurately just what is involved?
That doesnt make sense and is incorrect yet 9 people like it. Goes to show how much education is needed in this area.
You have no Canabis and order pouring in, somebody not telling the truth. I think he meant interest in the industry, however, why would the investor come to the BVI with the harshest labour market nd very little land room when they can go to any other Caribbean Islands with more friendly labor market and get thousands of acres of land to farm. It just do not add up.
I totally agree. This is desperate rubbish put out by an administration that has no direction, but to deflect criticism from failed policies. Where is the plan? Why aren’t they talking to stakeholders? The continuous attacks on the Governor is a red herring move straight from the Trump playbook. A responsible administration would be co-operating through this crisis. When will Fahie take his responsibility to the people seriously?
The people that grow this product are not farmers, they’re chemists. You are competing against people/organizations that have a pedigree of experience dating back years, access to cutting edge technology and the support of scientific Institutions that have been studying marijuana cultivation for decades.
But apparantly, the orders are flowing into the BVI, which has zero experience in the industry. This is either very misleading, or very suspicious.
This is not how business is conducted. No experience, no knowledge of process, production, processing, critical limitations, sales r marketing. It’s just a load of manure .
Try pulling my other leg. This one’s long enough.
“””. This is either very misleading, or very suspicious.””””
It is neither…. IT IS A BLATANT LIE. That they think the Tortolian’s will easily believe!
“After you go through this whole democratic process, you have debates, you educate the people, you make changes based on what the public says. You go through the first, second and third reading. You go through all of that and then you have one man who can just say none of what you did matters.”
Whether you like the government or not you must admit that no one man should have this much power. Not many governors have been to the BVI before being appointed. Not many governors return to the BVI after service.
How is orders pouring in and the growth process has not started.
Pass the bill.
We are in the midst of corona better it is grown by the farmers & government than however it gets here.
I’ve had persons contact me and tell me how many litres of distillate from the marijuana that they want to order from the BVI and how much they are willing to pay for it. So we already have orders ready,”
Where is the Ganja patch? Asking for myself
Well what am i hearing? We must be on to as the boss does say “great things”. Imagine saying orders are rushing in and not one seed is sown. Not a piece of land touched for readiness, not one person get the land. Stanford connor still in his grave(may the lord bless his soul)asking WHO IS FOOLING WHO…..WHO TO BLAIM? TRY SOMETHING ELSE ON US MAN!
Malarkey
The minister states this as a “potential source of revenue”
A pot of gold at the rainbow/s end is also a Potential source of revenue and as likely.
Reality is the land is not At all prepared, there is a Big water issue and the limits set on what is grown (CBD only) and sold (only to investor) will only make one person money.
The actual growers will receive disappointment.
It got purple bathing in bucket still, got to wait for running water in their homes so are you telling us that water to keep marijuana growing would be given priority over everyday necessities.
If government have a contractual agreement to provide water to this venture, then you already know your answer.
Especially if they involved in the profits…
That comment I just post was at Government not you
They need to make some amendments to the bill, why just the one area, and why needing a vote from the house!
SAY NO TO DRUGS
No orders are pouring in. They just want to get this thing moving so that they can sell to whomever rich, white outsider influenced them to go down this path in the first place.
No one from your district going to benefit from this, Sowande. How dare you lump us in with you and your party’s plea to have y’all slush fund project approved under the duress of “losing revenue”.
Food security should be tantamount for you in terms of attempting to complete the basic requirements of your many portfolios, but here you is talking about medical marijuana like as if The B.V.I. has some sort of legendary reputation for this product like the Cubans do for making Cigars or the French with doors.
Those that fish and farm in the community need so much assistance and your government still locking up those in the district with little herb plots they sell amongst themselves, but you already talking like as if you going to just integrate your whole district into this thing and boost the economy. Boy, please!
Let me see you so I can throw this pamphlet in your face where you was talking about creating a market up In your district so that Fishfolk and farmers would have an established market for their produce as opposed to relying strictly on the sales of residents. Ain’t none of us going to even sniff your magical, mystical ganja as medicinal users or cultivated growers, Sowande, so quit using us as a talking point so you can benefit YOUR rich, white, friends who like you all of a sudden.
You get a triple Amen, my brother. Sowande knows better than to fall that down that rabbit hole of the rich white friends. He should have learned from picko’s mistakes.
I CANNOY EAT CANIBIS GO AND PLANT GIID THAY CANINAS GROWING IS GOING TO CAUSE ALL KIMDS OF PROBLEMS IN THIS PLACE UOU HAVE NOT SEEN NOR HEAR NOTHING YET THING TO TELL THE KING AND ON TROUNLE WE WILL HIMG. SO SIT DOWN WITH THAT THING THE GOVERNOR IS NOT STUDYING YOU ALL WITH YOUR HIGH MENTAL SHIT. CARVIN SAVE THE GOVERMENT MONEY FOR WHEN THE CANIBIS VRAZINESS STARTS PREMIER WHAT A HELL TO PLAY WHEN CANIBAS MELLE GET A STRAY
This government always jumping the gun.Stop taking we the people for fools.We elected u .U are our employee stop this dictator s**t don’t force feed us with ur stupid decisions we the people need to have a say in decision making,Gambling legalise drugs running rampant guns on the loose what kind of leadership is this.Pls Governor don’t don’t sign off on this.Natalio U are aL**R show us who are so insrested in a product u dont have
You ain’t see even the strippers posing for the cause where people wore yellow this week.
Disgraceful that stripping is legal in this place.
This will be the same debacle as the famous green houses from VIP !
It looks like you got to be able to tell lies to be in the VIP government. Who could be calling Hon. Wheatley to order marijuana? He growing it? Who would call to order a product that isn’t even in the ground yet and the law hasn’t passed? There are many other places in the world including the US that can produce this for users. Why call the BVI minister to place orders? These people tell too much lies. BVI people we have a government that cannot be trusted to tell the truth on anything.
LOL there is no product to show or even a place to plant it. Who are these people that want to buy this stuff? I need to meet them. I have a bridge that I want to sell that connects Tortola to St Thomas. Really good bridge. Cuts travel time by 45 minuites and the new owner can charge a toll! This is the business opportunity of a lifetime! BUY BUY BUY!
A nice piece of sarcasm, on a par with selling oceanfront property in Arizona.
They could have framed it as not being about the money, which they should have then people would not be squabbling & ridiculing them over this investor.
At the end of the day young men & woman, Rasta, Christians and folks with ailments do not deserve to be locked up for this biblically sanctioned herb in a region where we drink all kinds of bush tea.
We live by the error of man & not by the word of god. Free yourself from mental slavery & accept your neighbor whether they choose to use this healing herb or prefer pills for their stress & anxiety.
The argument has changed. Now it is not whether this herb is good or bad, it is whether the gov will implement this in a way to confer real benefits to the people.
Dont mind the noise, Honourable Wheatley!
These are the same noisemakers who were against the Pier Park!
And today, EVERYONE, now see how important tourism is to the survival of this country!
And it will soon be a similar situation when, upon the passing and enactment of this law, how beneficial and critical, “GANJA”, will be to the economy of this territory!
Pier Park – how’s that going by the way? Tens of millions of dollars on an industry that couldn’t even pay its way with $25 tourists before the pandemic. Now who knows when the cruise ships – the floating Petri dishes of disease – will be allowed to continue? Time to move on from the crumbs from the unsustainable cruise industry.
Time will tell but I agree because while not perfect this is a leap in the right direction.
Now this Cannabis licensing Act will begin the process to end this discrimination & persecution for a plant safer than tobacco & less detrimental to society than alcohol.
As for the pier park at least people have a safe place to socialize.
It is not going anywhere meaning while tourism is down the future potential remains.
Rule One; Don’t get high on your supply Mr. Minister.
Why you think we link up with SVG.?
Sounds like an episode of Ozark with the money launderers desperate to clean their money through a “legitimate” scheme. Or someone’s lying …
When one reads throgh this section one is left asking are we lost in translation. I mean there is another story going on where the well learned duel their wits in the production not on the topic 1. GOVNOR NOT SIGNING THE BILL INTO LAW 2. The stalling of legislative agenda by the Governor and the 3. The STATES SUVERINITY(Peoples’ rights and cascading effect etc etc) While we debate scraps the bigger bread gone.
Consider that gambling bill came first and was recently assented to months later. I reckon it is part of the process & not stalling.
So who is calling who to order Marijuana? Someone better call 311 or the police tips line to report illegal activity
You think there are social ills in the society now ? Wait until people begin to grow the medical herb : 1. Theft of crop would be on the rise 2. Candies and cookies for school children drug based 3. Medical and the illegal herb mixed up for sale . 4.more jobs and stress for the force . Christian community quiet but wait ….. al yo go hear
you are a small a**e country with no flat land, now you want to be a major supplier of weed. Harvest the sea it is much better for ya. Banana republic
stop lying.
I still would like to understand how it is we are making production of marijuana legal for exportation, but still criminal for consumption and distribution locally. Somebody make that make sense for I and I please. Governor Jaspert must have picked up on this gross misjudgment, hence why he is dragging his feet.
From money laundering to drug dealing. Don’t see a bright future here.
Covid19 hit and troubled businesses cant even set up a simple online store to get sales.
We suppose to be leaders in financial services, so help us with eCommerce. Meet with the banks and internet companies so you can help the people.
How will you be able to sell Cannabis with crappy internet and NO payment platform?
Through the Post Office?
Lolololololol. I wish I could like this comment a thousand times.
I do not believe this.
im wondering who is going to buy as u.s.a. has plenty of its own suppliers…
1. Allocate land
2. Provide a water supply
3. Farm the land whilst waiting for the bill (or not!)
There is currently no arable land with sufficient water supply on Tortola capable of growing anything including weed. It would be simple to feed paraquita from the desal plant but currently there are no pipes or reservoirs in place