Saint Lucians will have the opportunity to directly shape the island’s emerging medicinal cannabis and hemp industry, as the Regulated Substances Authority (RSA) begins a series of nationwide consultations this week.

Chief Executive Officer of the RSA, Dylan Norbert-Inglis, said the consultations are designed to ensure citizens and stakeholders can provide input before final regulations are brought before Cabinet and Parliament.

“We wanted to be certain that persons had an opportunity before these documents were brought to Cabinet and to Parliament to give their views and to understand what these regimes would be,” Norbert-Inglis explained.

“In some cases, people are familiar with regimes like alcohol, but in others, there is not a lot of familiarity with the use and commercial activity of these substances. So in the case of cannabis, we want people to understand what exactly the parameters of being involved in this regime would look like.”

The consultations will examine both the draft Medicinal Cannabis Bill and a detailed set of proposed regulations. While the Bill outlines the legal framework, Norbert-Inglis noted that the regulations cover operational requirements such as security protocols, farm perimeters, and other compliance measures.

“To support the bill, you have more intricate details contained in the regulations. What are the requirements for the fence around your farm? What other security protocols are to be put in place? These things would not be in the Bill. They would be in the regulations. So we have released some 11 or 12 regulations, and we wanted to benefit from the views of the public,” he said.

Norbert-Inglis stressed that the goal is to avoid imposing a system that the public later finds impractical or burdensome.

The RSA says feedback gathered from the consultations will guide final adjustments to both the Bill and regulations, ensuring that the industry develops in a way that reflects national priorities, safeguards, and opportunities for economic growth.