Momentum is building towards a decision concerning legalising medical cannabis and industrial hemp in The Bahamas.

The Bahamas is a country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic, north of Cuba. Home to around 389,000, it consists of more than 700 islands and cays.

The Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis  said last week that his Government is in the process of completing legislation for the legalization of medicinal marijuana in the country to table in Parliament. The comments were made at the commissioning ceremony for the Hope Town Shoreline Stabilization Project according to the Office Of The Prime Minister’s Facebook page.

Throughout history, cannabis has established itself as a popular recreational tool and powerful medicine, used in these ways worldwide according to local culture. For the Rastafari, though, it’s also a part of their religious tradition. As cannabis laws are reassessed globally, the push for religious freedom has helped loosen regulation for the Caribbean communities.

The Bahamas National Commission on Marijuana expects to complete a crucial public survey on whether cannabis should be legalized by mid-April.

The commission was split on whether adult-use cannabis should be legalized. It agreed to put the matter to a public poll in a bid to break the deadlock.

Commissioners must first decide on whether to use the Department of Statistics or turn to a private company to conduct the survey. Co-chairman Quinn McCartney said it should have the survey ready and pollsters in place within the next week or two.

“I would say early March and that should be a four to six-week process, so certainly by mid-April we should be finished with the survey,” said McCartney.

The Bahamas National Commission on Marijuana Medical proposes that cannabis users in the country should have the right to grow as many plants as they need — and they just might get it.

The commission’s report to the House of Assembly was tabled by Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis this week, edging the Bahamas closer to serious reform with regard to medical cannabis and home cultivation.

A previous version of the draft of the report had recommended limiting patients with a physician-ordered prescription to cultivating just five plants at home.

While the Bahamas National Commission on Marijuana has not yet taken a definitive stance on marijuana use in The Bahamas, its recommendations will give the government options for various regulated models, according to commission co-chair Quinn McCartney.

McCartney projected The Bahamas could see some form of regulation, not dissimilar to Jamaica’s heavily regulated model, within a short period of time.

“It is something that can be implemented, once it is properly organized and the right resources are invested,” McCartney said.

“I think it’s something that could be doable in a short period of time.”

THE Cannabis conversation we are having right now in The Bahamas is all about control.