Eight farmers’ cooperatives are among the groups that will be receiving licences to cultivate medical marijuana in St. Vincent and the Grena-dines, after Cabinet accepted recommendations by the Board of the Me-dicinal Cannabis Authority (MCA).
This was revealed in a statement by the MCA, which also indicated that Cabinet will subsequently announce a date for the operationalising of the Cannabis Cultivation (Amnesty Act).
Those licensed will be able to supply the island’s local demand, as well as markets in CARICOM, North America and Europe, which they have identified for export of high quality medicinal cannabis products, a release from the MCA related.
It was stated that licences have been approved for eight local farmers’ producer cooperatives with an aggregated membership of over 100 traditional cultivators; 13 traditional cultivators of cannabis who applied individually; three non-traditional local farmers; and 10 companies with the directorship of nationals from the OECS, CARICOM, North America, Europe and Africa.
It was noted that an additional 20 traditional cultivators are expected to obtain their cultivation licences by September of this year, based on the applications currently under review.
