A 2018 report authored by the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) called for unified progress to decriminalise and regulate cannabis to reduce the social and historical costs of its prohibition and criminalisation.
A landmark study for the region, its impact has been muted over half a decade after its launch: Caribbean nations today have a patchwork of cannabis markets, pursuing medical cannabis profits over a joint social justice approach. Speaking to the report’s author, Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine from the University of the West Indies, we realised that while some countries like Jamaica steamed ahead with progressive reforms, others remain bogged down with international, cultural, and economic issues.
What Report?
“The Commission is unanimous in its view that the status quo with respect to the legal regime governing marijuana cannot be maintained and legal reform should be a priority for member states,” Antoine told TalkingDrugs.
CARICOM’s report acknowledged the cultural connections of cannabis with Caribbean communities, its economic potential, and prohibition’s injustices. It recommended decriminalising cannabis for personal, medicinal, and religious use while creating a regulated framework for its production and sale.
“It was a multidisciplinary team, including everyone from judges to doctors, representing a cross-section of Caribbean society,” said Antoine.
“The analysis of the comprehensive information gathered indicates that the current legal regime for cannabis, characterised as it is by prohibition and draconian criminal penalties, is ineffective, incongruous, obsolete and deeply unjust,” the report said.
The state of cannabis progress
“It [progress] has not been uniform, some countries have been more assertive than others.” Antoine said.
Cannabis policies vary greatly between Caribbean nations – from total prohibition to some forms of decriminalisation.
“Jamaica then had the courage to go ahead and then, so did others. If CARICOM had not moved, I don’t think that would’ve happened.”
In 2015, Jamaica decriminalised possession of up to 56.5g of cannabis and allowed households to cultivate up to 5 plants for personal use. At the same time, it established its Cannabis Licensing Authority to attempt exports, which was hoped to help rural farmers improve their livelihoods. In 2018, Jamaica made its first legal export of medical cannabis extract oil to Canada. While there are few reviews of the benefits created by the new cannabis system, it appears that significant criminal justice savings have already been created in reducing people’s contact through cannabis-related arrests and detentions.
“Jamaica had the courage to go ahead and then, so did others. If CARICOM had not moved, I don’t think that would’ve happened,” Antoine said.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines followed suit by launching its medical cannabis industry in 2018. The country focused on empowering small farmers, granting licences to 173 ‘traditional cultivator groups’ by 2019. Trinidad and Tobago also decriminalised the possession of up to 30g of the plant, which already contributed to fewer arrests for cannabis possession.
Despite the lack of cohesive regional progress, Antoine insisted that the entire region has progressed. However, there are nations where progress has fizzled. Haiti, which continues to struggle with cannabis trafficking, has shown little movement toward reform. The country has upheld its complete ban on cannabis cultivation, sale, and use.
Nothing In isolation
Caribbean nations rely heavily on international aid and tourism profits, meaning they must often comply with international legislation. Historically, this means governments may have feared backlash when pursuing progressive legislation. “We don’t have much of a voice in international spaces,” as Antoine said. But this dynamic is now changing, particularly around cannabis control.
“One of the reasons some countries bought in so readily was the move in the US and particularly Canada, to build their medical cannabis industry,” she said.
International treaties also complicate the path to reform. The UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs requires signatories to prohibit legal cannabis markets, creating legal hurdles for countries seeking to legalise it. Aligning regional policies with these treaties would require significant negotiation.
“There is now overwhelming support for law reform, moving away from the prohibition on cannabis and consequent criminalisation,” according to the CARICOM report. Antoine said that this is even more true today than it was in 2018.
“We have largely won the battle for public opinion, only in very isolated spots and in specific instances does it remain against.” she said.
Overly focused on medical
When talking about progress since CARICOM’s report, Antoine’s main concern was that Caribbean cannabis reform efforts had been overtly concentrated on creating medical cannabis markets above all else.
“The focus was more on medical cannabis and less of a question of human rights or social justice,” she told TalkingDrugs.
Developing a regulated cannabis industry requires substantial investment in infrastructure, licensing systems, and enforcement mechanisms; Caribbean economies may lack the resources to fund these costly operations. For example, while Jamaica has made strides in exporting cannabis, high licensing fees have excluded many small farmers from participating in the industry. “The little man, the indigenous farmer, has often been left out.” Antoine said.
The focus on medical cannabis stemmed from its growing global legitimacy, and its potential for profits. Some Caribbean states believe they can generate serious capital by exporting high-quality cannabis. In fact, some predict that the medical cannabis market in the Caribbean could reach as much as $326.20m by 2029. Unfortunately, the amount of money that could realistically be raised by exports is up for debate.
“For me, I’m skeptical of the argument of the Caribbean’s potential for exporting medical cannabis. I’ve toured Canadian facilities and if you see them, you know they don’t require the Caribbean to supply them.” Antoine said.
Germany, one of the world’s biggest medical cannabis importers, has seen declining imports from Jamaica and St. Vincent in recent years. Australia, another major market, also noted a drop in importing medical cannabis from Jamaica since 2021.
The region has further to go
Ultimately, the region’s focus on medical cannabis is “a blessing and a curse,” Antoine said. It has stimulated progressive policies in several Caribbean nations, including personal decriminalisation in Jamaica and the protection of its sacred use in various nations. But, without a concurrent move towards social justice policies, it misses the progressive mark.
“Some people latched onto that [medical cannabis] but forgot about the social justice aspect,” Antoine said. “We set out to minimise harm, promote human rights and engage with social justice. Some of that has happened, but I’m not sure how much.”
Drug prohibition in some shape or form still exists across all the islands. Antione argued that comprehensive harm reduction has not been a priority for Caribbean nations, and that they remained over-focussed on cannabis exports at the expense of domestic harm reduction.
“No one has come out and said full legalisation for the sake of legalisation, so that battle is yet to be won,” she commented.
