Hatter just so you know I actually look forward to your comments LOL

Hey MadHater, your statement. " people in the Middle East who remove the clitoris and a portion of the labia " refers to the wrong continent and the wrong religion. Other than that you earn a D_. sigh.....

I stand corrected. My apologies for doubting you.

Yes and in the main time they will continue to lock up people for a joint, give them a record, hamper their ability to find work, leaving them to find work illegally and wreck havoc on society robbing and stealing, all while saying we're still doing a study ten years from now

Anything in this country takes years! Look how long we knew conch were overfished.

considering the usual level of efficiency in Bahamian government and the whole ease of doing business thing, plus the interference from the christian council, if they work as hard as possible on this issue it would be ten to 15 years. And then they'll put together a committee to see if there is any medicinal value. In the meantime, people will still be smoking like they have for decades and the government will continue to loose out on tax and "pot tourism"

Wonder why they did not have this lengthy roll-out for the economy-killing numbers houses to hit the streets? Buncha bozos! LEGALIZE IT!

Guvment dem need maximum time to figure out how exactly to make sure they get the MOST money for themselves out of this concept. Tax it and regulate it SO much that the poor person who may try to farm it, won't be able to turn a profit due to the weight of the taxation and burden of the bureaucratic bullship....

This delay reminds me of the song written by the late Ray Sawyer and recorded by Dr. hook and The Medicine Show called "I got stoned and I missed it", we are in danger of totally missing the proverbial boat with this one, again......

THE GUBBERMINT EXPERTS DOES HAVE A POINT IN STRETCHING OUT THE LEGSLIZATION.....while bout 12 US states done legalizes it.....GUBBERMINT EXPERTS NEEDS TO BE STENCHING ON LEGALIZATION because.....1. Plenty police will likely be out of work...driving cars to smell da smoke and go knocking on doors...2. Police will not be needed round many places to smell da smoke an find da culprit....3....Fewer police to do writing up locking up...4. Courts will have more time some staff might have to be let go ....5..Prison bus might be empty fewer trips so fewer convoy people some get let go....6. Fox Hill prison likely be half empty so staff gets laid off some cooks sent home....7. ..legalizing weed likely cause havoc in finding too few remaining cronies...family friends that aint already have gubbermint jobs to fill new set up bureaucracy to handle legal weed adminisyration.....8....Legalizing weed has to be stretched out to give....family friends cronies....time to create paperwork to create monopoly for a few..to benefit..likely surveys...analyses...discussions on da price of tea in China...string theory.....quantumwhatnots.....calculus...gapseed...Biblical quotations....9....longer it stretcjes out ensures continuous employment to some....10....legalizing weed too soon would prevent the experts from finding a way to turn the industry into a money losing entity ...continuously dependent on ....subventions....where some politician who is not an expert can get to budget for pore people taxes to bail it out....11...delays necessary to sort out select Crown lands for farming....

The legal and formal part in the change in legislation may take years but it doesn't mean that the country cannot start the process by informally relaxing the laws on marijuana and even decriminalizing the possession of small amounts. While I don't condone the abuse of any substance, including marijuana or alcohol, sometimes young people get more damage when they are caught with small amounts of 'weed' then get locked in a legal system that leads to other problems. This country went through an epidemic of substance abuse over the past 20 years or so. Fortunately, the bedis disappeared off the market, when they became too expensive compared to regular cigarettes, and cigarette smokers have also dropped to 14% worldwide. that's the lowest level in 25 years!

De-criminalizing marijuana can be done by Parliament in a matter of weeks/months .......... Stop locking up our people for a joint/3 ounces or a few trees for personal use ........ But do not legalize it like Europe Canada or some US states .......... Limited medical marijuana uses can also be facilitated legally.

It was reported recently that Canadians consumed $2 billion worth of marijuana in 3 months for 30 million people ........... Do we want to go down that road?????

Really. Near future decriminalization of small amounts for off-road recreational use is the ticket. Not so complicated a move. The only thing that would change is the ruination of lives for a minor thing. The only problem I see is legalizing the suppliers of 'acceptable' quantities of the weed. Perhaps that and medicinal use/supply should be a second phase.

For such a small country there is a disproportionate number of assholes in prominent positions hampering progress, making detrimental life-changing decisions for the country!

Jackass does as jackass is.

You don't have years. Florida will have recreational Marijuana on the 2020 presidential ballot. Looking how close the governor's race was I suspect it will pass. Give the state a year to implement the rules and by 2021 legal weed. You don't have years to figure this out.

Every time we discuss change it always takes years. It's not as though we are the only place in the world to be considering doing this and there are also no countries who have done it. As such the route to take is already laid out. But to follow them means not being able to have committee after committee in which all the connected people can sit on and get paid very handsomely for. It would be easier and cheaper if we just tell the committee members they will receive $1 million each at the end of the discussions, however this would decrease by $100,000 for each month they take. My guess is it would all be done by the weekend then.

Lol...It'll be done before lunch!

Somebody made this comment about the Bahamas on social media. Any progressive ideas take years to be implemented in the Bahamas.This is just a next example of that,