The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Digital Editor

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Cannabis Authority expects to begin rolling out the country's medicinal cannabis industry within weeks after signing an agreement with US-based tracking company Metrc, officials confirmed yesterday.

"Within the next month, it could be sooner, before the end of June you will be hearing a lot more coming from this space, authority chairman Lynwood Brown told The Tribune.

He said the agreement was finalised several weeks ago and clears the way for the public unveiling of the licensing platform, government website and application process before the end of June.

Dr Brown acknowledged that public awareness of the new regime remains insufficient and said an aggressive public education campaign will be launched before applications open.

"There can never be enough public education. The public is not aware sufficiently enough, in my opinion," Dr Brown said.

"The launch will kick off with a press conference, but we definitely need to go on a general education campaign to let people know what's coming, who can participate, where you can have a shop and where you cannot have a shop."

"We are very cognisant of that deficiency," he said.

Dr Brown said the authority chose to delay implementation until after the election to avoid presenting a new government with a regulatory framework developed under a previous administration.

"The government didn't change so the plan we had previously, we will follow through with," he said.

He declined further comment on the cost of the authority's contract with Metrc, or the budgetary allocation for the authority, telling the Tribune that the Minister of Health's budget presentation will provide further details.

Dr Brown said the upcoming rollout will include the launch of the government's cannabis website, publication of application procedures for prospective licence holders, the introduction of platform partners and training for individuals seeking to participate in the industry.

The authority's agreement with Metrc follows delays caused by changes within the technology sector itself. Dr Brown said officials had initially been in discussions with another provider BioTrack before a corporate acquisition forced negotiations to restart.

"We are satisfied with our negotiations with Metrc. We have signed the contract for them to be our platform provider and guide us through this virgin territory," he said.

"They are eager to meet the Bahamian people and have a press conference to be introduced."

Dr Brown said the platform is designed to provide comprehensive oversight of the industry and reduce opportunities for illicit products to enter the regulated market.

He said every cannabis plant will be tracked from cultivation through final sale using a barcode system, while random testing will be conducted throughout the supply chain.

"Each seed is barcoded and followed from seed to sale. It will be very difficult to slide black market product in," he said.

"We do random batch testing. We want to plug as many loopholes as possible."

Dr Brown said regulators are also seeking to prevent practices such as patients obtaining multiple prescriptions from different providers and the sale of products that do not meet medicinal standards.

He noted that individuals who are already cultivating cannabis illegally would face challenges attempting to pass those crops off as licensed medicinal products.

"If someone is illegally cultivating now and they are applying for a cultivation licence, even if they meet the requirements and we grant them a licence and two weeks later they have product, we know that product was not grown within the regulated framework," he said.

"We don't expect products from that process to be ready within 18 months."

Dr Brown said the Ministry of Health is leading the initiative with support from the Attorney General's Office, the Ministry of Agriculture and local banking institutions, all of which are involved in developing the industry's regulatory framework.

He stressed that public education would be one of the authority's most important priorities ahead of the launch.

Dr Brown said: "This isn't for recreation, this is a public health industry. Because of the critical nature of public health, we have to spend resources to get as much information in the hands of the public as possible because the public's health and safety depends on it and we're not taking this lightly."

Dr Brown said the authority intends to be transparent about the industry's development and wants Bahamians to become active participants in its success.

"We are looking for Bahamians to be our partners on this, and in order for them to be partners we have to be transparent," he said.

"We won't rush it, but we want to move as fast as possible while being as safe as possible."