UK’s expectations regarding BVI’s cannabis-related Bill still unclear
Premier Andrew Fahie has said his government is still unclear as to their next step in getting the controversial Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) Amendment Act 2020 assented.
The Bill was passed in the House of Assembly in July, 2020, and after months of not being assented to, Governor Augustus Jaspert he revealed that the Bill was passed on to the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary.
According to the governor, the UK Foreign Secretary requested for the Bill to give further consideration to several of its components before using his constitutional authority to give assent.
During an appearance on the Honestly Speaking radio programme on Tuesday, January 12, Premier Fahie revealed that a month later after the governor’s handing over of the Bill to the Foreign Secretary, a way forward remains a mystery.
He said: “It’s the first time I ever saw this in my political career where a Bill was approved by the House of Assembly and it was now referred to the Foreign Secretary and some other entities in the UK. We have been informed of who we must contact with this, we have some more negotiations to do because we are not clear as a government why, and we are not clear as a government what is expected of us.”
Bill underwent a thorough process
Premier Fahie said the process a Bill undergoes before passing in the House of Assembly is thorough. He said it is for that reason his government is unclear as to the way forward.
“It has to go to Cabinet in terms of at least through our angle as ministers and when it reaches to Cabinet, the Cabinet consists of the Attorney General, the Governor, the Cabinet Secretary and the five ministers, and only the five ministers’ vote,” Fahie explained.
“So, whatever concerns need to be raised are raised, whatever needs to be addressed is addressed, then it goes to the House where other concerns are also raised and addressed. So there was a lot of forum for anything that was concerned to be addressed. But to hold it for months and months later and then come back with this is a first for me,” he explained.
Hopes the mystery is solved soon
The leader of government business said he hopes to get to the root of the problem soon, to allow the territory to begin reaping some of the many benefits the proposed legislation has to offer.
“That still remains a mystery to us and that we’ll be unravelling and monitoring, and hopefully we can allow cooler heads to prevail with a mutual respect to allow this to be assented to, and we won’t have to be going round and round to get a new entity of our economy moving,” Fahie stated.
Once assented, the legislation will expunge the criminal records of persons found guilty of possession of no more than 50 grams of marijuana or no more than 10 grams of marijuana resin, once they met specified criteria.
It further seeks to decriminalise small quantities of marijuana found in the possession of persons.
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Time will tell.
the LORD is my shepherd i will not want bless up
Approve drug manufacturer here in the British Virgin Islands when it remains illegal in the UK? – not the simple decision it first appears.
Any form of intoxication is bad for the people in general, so that is the reasons case closed with out consultation fees.
There is not a week go by that you don’t have a beef with the UK. We need to be growing food and invest in fishing.
I do believe that we should legalize marijuana for personal use and put a tax on goods made from if
I don’t think the BVI can compete with other Caribbean Islands with growing marijuana for medical use.
legalizing marijuana will but the pushers out of business.
Sad state of affairs when you can’t trust the words of our “leader”. So much l**s have been told from this administration, you don’t know what to believe.
Our leader “hopes the mystery is solved soon”
I can solve it for you now,, the UK are not happy with it and they are deciding what they can allow under UK law !
Or go independent and do what you like !
Quote, “The leader of government business said he hopes to get to the root of the problem soon, to allow the territory to begin reaping some of the many benefits the proposed legislation has to offer.
Exactly WHAT benefits and for WHOM?
Maybe for your friends and your unnamed investor?
The two major money generating economic power houses that built the UK are opium and slavery.
Not to legalize a plant that grows naturally after such a past history is beyond hypocrisy.
It’s called lessons learnt and many wrongs don’t mean you continue down that same path!
Our AG and others are complete wastes of time!!! We are a dependent Territory of the UK, how can we pass laws to make something legal, when it’s illegal in the UK and many other countries? Laws are serious things and something like this that can have far reaching effects need to be dealt with properly. If he was a proper diplomat and understood how the game is played, marijuana fields would be planted by now. But no, he believes he is a West End bully and the Governor has him wrapped around his little finger.
“We have been informed of who we must contact with this, we have some more negotiations to do because we are not clear as a government why, and we are not clear as a government what is expected of us.”
What’s unclear. You need to contact the person you have been informed to contact. I don’t think it is expected of you to take to the airwaves and leak things every day about how much you are downtrodden by the UK. That’s a funny style of diplomacy and negotiation. Worth of Trump, just delivered by a bigger man.
Since 1998 your UK home justice secretary issued a licence to procure 18 hectors of land 20 foot ball fields in Midlands growing for medicinal use raking in billions why the double standards between gov, and public.ruthless incarcerations, must end