Legalize it mon with regulations for smoking in public areas ... it will reduce overall crime and expand/enhance tourism as well. Could create new farming opportunities for our great Bahamian farmers all the way to dispensing entrepreneurial opportunities. We could export it as they do Jamaican Blue Mountain coffees. Far too much energies and dollars trying to stop the unstoppable.

... Bahamians have become experts at catering to their immediate needs and wants without giving any regard to the future and what has it given us? A country full of illegitimate children who grew up with no moral training or self control. We went from a country that was relatively debt free to one drowning in debt. From one that was relatively safe to one where now you need a walled in yard with a gate and 1-2 dogs in that yard, but you still need a home surveillance system and bars on your windows! And even then you are not sure if you are safe.

What we have been doing as a people hasn't been working and people don't have sense to see that. But yeah, let's continue down the road you suggest because sometimes things have to get worse before they get better!

Just more if the same standard bullsnot of the Bahamas govt. Is anyone really that surprised? I could have predicted this exactly. Remember that left turn on red law that somehow disappeared after the esteemed and royal constables said they could not... What about all the other laws on the books that are a waste of slave and hit air. That high house of parliament is just an outright joke at this point. Like why bother?

We don't need that dope bill to ever happen in 242. It will be 10X worst than Christie's legalization of the Numbers Mafia clique in 2016.

Just look at what havoc has been wreaked on the poor underclass of our country for the obscene wealth provided to a few politically connected families.

Ok nanny dearest

Asking if the Govt has no plans to stall on 'weed regulations;' -- more so to do with 'BSD $10,000 kick-starter grants targeting the 'home-baked' goods' category. --- Pacifically, will financially help and issue production documents to 'home-bakers' of weed-laced brownies 'for personal or medicinal use.' --- Allow 'defined' areas of 'moderate' sales with 'some' distribution'. -- Yes?

Why do you need funding to say "this harmless thing is no longer illegal"?

@ComradeAnObserver, the Govt will raise taxes and borrow another hundred millions of USD to fund more tools, policemans' with machine guns, resources for land and sea crafts, a justice system to execute arrests, lay charges, staffing and building new courts to carrying-out the Fox Hill overcrowded and understaffed imprisonments of those dealing in cannabis...All carried out in the name and authority of the King of England. -- Yes?

The Government should not stall it should have the testicular fortitude to come out and say they are not going to legalize this poison. Here is the current scientific evidence available.

Growing evidence points to potentially severe side effects of cannabis

As the drug becomes more and more potent, there has been a parallel increase in both medical and recreational marijuana’s accessibility and acceptance in the United States. Most users are aware of the common side effects, including impairments in memory and attention, greater inclination for risk-taking, and diminished capacity to drive. And while for most people, cannabis produces a feeling of relaxation, in others, for poorly understood reasons, it can trigger anxiety and panic.
Now, growing research is pointing to other concerning, potentially severe consequences of cannabis use. This not only affects adults over the age of 21, who can legally buy marijuana in many jurisdictions, but also adolescents. “Data suggests that as cannabis becomes more available in the environment for adults, its access also increases to children and young adults who may be particularly vulnerable to its long-term effects,” says Mohini Ranganathan, MBBS, associate professor of psychiatry.
There is compelling data showing that cannabis may be associated with changes in brain structure in young people, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with decision-making and executive function. Other epidemiological evidence suggests that heavy and early use of cannabis is associated with increased risk of developing schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety.

All unfounded bullsnot without a shred of real evidence. Go back to 1922 prohibition and feel free to stay there.

My 40+ years of experience shows your "current scientific evidence" is BS. I and friends have enjoyed the "devil's lettuce" and simultaneously been productive human beings for decades. Take the criminality out of this plant or outlaw alcohol, a drug we have centuries of research showing its ill effects.