The Government of Sint Maarten is seeking proposals from organizations or companies willing to work with the government to create a comprehensive pathway to legal, responsible and viable access to the cannabis industry.
The government of Sint Maarten paves the way for a legal cannabis industry
Health, Social Development and Labor (VSA) Minister Omar Ottley welcomes and welcomes proposals to explore a regulated and legalized cannabis industry.
“The objective is to carry out studies on the effects of the legalization of cannabis before making a decision on how this legalization could materialize”, specifies the government. Therapeutic, recreational, scientific and religious uses will be studied.
With this in mind, “Minister of Health Oma Ottley is open to all proposals to study the question of a legal cannabis trade. The objective is to receive suggestions from local and international companies who would like to work with the government and ensure that the economic, social and medical aspects can benefit Saint-Martinois”.
The official launch of the tender begins on September 12, 2022, for a period of 90 days.
All proposals submitted by the submission deadline – December 5, 2022 – will be reviewed and assessed, based on the information provided in the proposal, as well as the list of deliverables to be included.
As CannabisIndustrie.nl points out, the big question will now be whether the Dutch government will shirk, like the United Kingdom, which refused the legalization of cannabis in Bermuda. Sint Maarten and the BES Islands, also called Dutch Caribbean, are indeed part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The BES Islands would like to model their cannabis policy on that of the Netherlands
The BES islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba already indicated at the end of 2021 that they wanted recognition to equalize the cannabis policy with that of the Netherlands. At the time, the island council of Saba made this request in a letter addressed to the Minister of Justice and Security, Mr. Grapperhaus.
Meanwhile, in August, the Cannabis Association Bonaire was created. She will lobby the government to make the cannabis industry on Bonaire legal and well regulated, both for medical and recreational purposes.
In July 2020, a petition was also launched to legalize cannabis in Bonaire.
