Release of draft rules for the US Virgin Islands medical cannabis program

On August 10, the VI Cannabis Advisory Board (VICAB) in the US Virgin Islands unanimously approved draft regulations for its medicinal cannabis program. On August 12th, the Office of Cannabis Regulations released the draft publicly and it will remain online for a 30-day public comment window ending September 11th. In addition, a face-to-face meeting is also scheduled to take place on August 31st.

Under the current draft, licenses will be available shortly over the next three months, with cultivation licenses beginning October 3rd, research and development licenses on October 26th, manufacturing licenses on December 5th, and finally pharmacy licenses on December 27th also open on October 12, Physician Registration on November 3, and Patient Registration on December 14, the results of all applicants who achieve a score of 80% or more will be publicly released.

However, competition is fierce as the District of St. Thomas is allowed to have eight Level One cultivation licences, St. John four and St. Croix one. That could change, however, as Executive Director Hannah Carty announced in March that “the exact number of licenses to be released each year will be determined by the Cannabis Advisory Board. You may not release licenses that supersede the amounts permitted by 19 VI Code; Chapter 34,” Carty said.

VICAB attempted to introduce a lottery system among qualified license applicants, but Richard Evangelista, Commissioner of the VI Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, among others, opposed the idea. “The lottery system seems like a double effort and I don’t think it should be a lottery, I think it should be based on merit as long as we have a valid, fair result list,” Evangelista said. “I think it should be based on merit, not merit and a lottery.” The rules have been changed to use a lottery only in the event of a tie.

The VICAB is operated with a one-time loan of $500,000 from the Office of Management & Budget. After two years, the department must be fully financed from the fees received.

The timetable requires quick action, according to Agriculture Commissioner Positive Nelson. “The longer it takes to get the program started, the longer it’s going to take to generate the revenue to sustain itself, so that’s part of the hiccup right there, and we may have to ask the legislature for additional time if.” we won’t get it to start soon,” Nelson said.

In response, the chairperson sent Dr. Catherine Kean sent a message to viewers to provide some insight into why the program took so long to put together. “I think we want the general public to realize that we never expected it to take this long to roll out,” Kean said. “All the obstacles we encountered along the way, whether they were real obstacles or perceived as obstacles…the last three years have been very trying. The $500,000 that we wanted to pay back, I think we saved to some extent. We’re just trying to really move forward. Once we have the rules and regulations out there and put that strategic plan in place I think we can try to turn the tide so we can actually start getting some money back once we get the licenses.”

Virgin Islands voters approved medicinal cannabis in 2014; lawmakers passed the Medical Cannabis Patient Care Act in 2018; and Governor Albert Bryan signed the law into law in 2019. VICAB held its first session in January 2020, and now, two years later, the US Virgin Islands is one step closer to implementing its program.

According to the St. Thomas Source, the program rules were supposed to be developed within 120 days of Gov. Bryan signing the bill into law, but there was a delay when a new executive director was sought. Eventually, Hannah Carty was appointed to the position in September 2021.

“Essentially, this person will, pun, be the cultivator of the Cannabis Advisory Board,” Evangelista said in September. “Your job now is to run the Office of Cannabis Regulation. They will be our liaison to the actual office in charge; We only have the duty of supervision. They are tasked with making sure the rules and regulations are out there, public comment is allowed, so getting a director on board was an essential part of the process.”