The U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) is ready to affix the rising ranks of jurisdictions within the nation to legalize marijuana, with the territory’s Senate approving a complete hashish reform invoice and separate expungements laws on Friday.
Simply two months after Sen. Janelle Sarauw (I) filed the adult-use legalization invoice, the Senate handed it handily, with amendments, in a veto-proof 11-1 vote. The expungements laws handed unanimously.
Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. (D), who has repeatedly referred to as on lawmakers to legalize hashish, is anticipated to signal the reforms into legislation.
“Though there have been many politically pushed false narratives about this hashish laws, I’m happy with the work performed by the Senators of the thirty fourth Legislature, group stakeholders and advocates, all of who contributed to the structuring of the ultimate invoice voted upon in at present’s Session,” Sarauw mentioned in a press launch. “The physique did its due diligence in defending the lots and the perfect curiosity of our residents by making certain that locals and minorities aren’t locked out of trade and have any alternative to take part in its financial potential.”
“There are such a lot of provisions on this invoice throughout numerous disciplines, that when carried out and enforced with constancy, the Territory will see an trade that’s inclusive and numerous, however most significantly, secure,” the senator mentioned. “It’s my hope that the present administration implements each Medicinal and Grownup Use to their full potential, for the advantage of the individuals of this Territory.”
The introduction of the reform laws got here months after the governor included a hashish legalization income in a price range proposal that he despatched to lawmakers and indicated that he may convene a particular session to enact the coverage change.
Bryan has pushed for legalization over current years and launched his personal reform proposal in 2019 that stalled within the legislature. He advised voters earlier this 12 months to name Sarauw and ask her why she had delayed her invoice’s introduction. However the finish product was a Senate-passed invoice that’s now heading to the governor’s desk.
Listed here are a number of the major provisions of the legalization bill:
Adults over the age of 21 may possess as much as two ounces of marijuana, fourteen grams of hashish concentres and one ounce of hashish merchandise reminiscent of edibles, ointments and tinctures.
The laws would create an Workplace of Hashish Regulation (OCR), tasked with issuing marijuana enterprise licenses, overseeing the trade and setting guidelines on points like promoting, packaging and labeling.
There can be a number of license and allow varieties, together with for hashish producers, retailers, cultivators, micro-cultivators, testing laboratories and on-site consumption entities.
There can be caps on what number of licenses OCR may grant for every of the territory’s major islands. Regulators may difficulty extra after January 1, 2025 in the event that they conduct a examine demonstrating that the enlargement is required to satisfy shopper demand.
People who use marijuana for sacramental functions may apply for their very own cultivation permits.
There can be a tax of at least 18 % on marijuana bought from dispensaries, however that will not apply to medical hashish. The invoice additionally lays out licensing charges and requires a 50 cent per gram tax on hashish cultivators who promote marijuana to different licensees.
Income can be break up amongst applications to deal with behavioral well being, homelessness and youth recreation, in addition to administration of the hashish program and the territory’s common fund.
There can be a track-and-trace program for hashish merchandise.
There are additionally a number of fairness elements within the legalization invoice, together with prioritized utility scoring for minority, ladies and service-injured entrepreneurs.
There can be a 100 milligram THC cap on edibles, and every serving may comprise as much as 10 milligrams.
Moreover, there are residency necessities for marijuana enterprise possession.
There are packaging and labeling restrictions, with the invoice stipulating that labels should embrace well being warnings and be designed in a manner that doesn’t attraction to individuals below 21.
Sarauw mentioned that “each single modification, each single suggestion that members made is included within the modification within the nature of a substitute,” according to VI Consortium.
The separate, complementary expungements legislation was additionally amended forward of passage and now offers for computerized aid from the courts for individuals with prior convictions involving as much as two ounces of marijuana. As launched, the laws would have required individuals to petition the courts.
Legalization “offers a possibility to generate wanted tax revenues” and enhance “enterprise possession and employment alternatives for Virgin Islands residents,” the invoice’s whereas part states.
Ending prohibition may also “alleviate social injustices skilled by individuals subjected to the felony justice system for actions associated to the cultivation, sale and possession of hashish that this Act now declares authorized,” it says.
Bryan, who has additionally talked about marijuana as a safer different to opioids for ache therapy, stressed in Could that it’s “been three years now transferring” the problem, and so lawmakers have to “get it by the legislature so we are able to get some cash going.”
He signed a medical hashish legalization invoice into legislation in 2019.
There was a listening to on the governor’s adult-use legalization proposal in 2020, with a number of authorities companies testifying in favor of the reform and outlining how a regulated hashish market may assist the territory, particularly given its financial wants.
Bryan has additionally emphasised the necessity to legalize, tax and regulate hashish to generate income amid the financial downturn attributable to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the meantime, different U.S. territories have additionally moved forward with hashish reform.
The governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) signed a invoice to finish prohibition in 2018.
The next 12 months, the governor of Guam signed legalization into legislation.
A senator in Puerto Rico, the place medical hashish is authorized, filed a invoice in October to take away penalties for low-level marijuana possession.