The Gov­ern­ment of Do­mini­ca has of­fi­cial­ly launched the Na­tion­al Cannabis Ad­vi­so­ry Com­mit­tee, a ma­jor step to­ward build­ing a vi­able, sus­tain­able, and well-reg­u­lat­ed cannabis in­dus­try.

The Com­mit­tee held its in­au­gur­al meet­ing on Wednes­day, bring­ing to­geth­er a di­verse group of stake­hold­ers from the pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tors, civ­il so­ci­ety, and tech­ni­cal fields. Es­tab­lished by Cab­i­net, the Com­mit­tee has been man­dat­ed to serve for 12 to 18 months.

Among its key re­spon­si­bil­i­ties is the con­duct of a thor­ough as­sess­ment of the health, le­gal, eco­nom­ic, and so­cial im­pli­ca­tions of mar­i­jua­na use in the coun­try. 

This ev­i­dence-based re­view will serve as a foun­da­tion for in­formed de­ci­sion-mak­ing at the na­tion­al lev­el.

The Com­mit­tee has been man­dat­ed to gath­er di­verse per­spec­tives to shape a pol­i­cy frame­work that re­flects the val­ues and pri­or­i­ties of the Do­mini­can peo­ple. 

Based on these in­sights, the com­mit­tee will of­fer rec­om­men­da­tions on the pos­si­ble re­clas­si­fi­ca­tion of mar­i­jua­na, in­clud­ing the le­gal pa­ra­me­ters that would gov­ern its use un­der any new leg­is­la­tion.

In ad­di­tion, the Com­mit­tee will spear­head the de­vel­op­ment of a Na­tion­al Road Map for the cannabis in­dus­try. 

This strate­gic plan will strong­ly em­pha­size sus­tain­abil­i­ty, in­no­va­tion, and re­spon­si­ble reg­u­la­tion, en­sur­ing that the in­dus­try evolves to ben­e­fit the econ­o­my while safe­guard­ing pub­lic health and safe­ty.

As part of its man­date, the Com­mit­tee will al­so rec­om­mend the es­tab­lish­ment of a Na­tion­al Cannabis Reg­u­la­to­ry Com­mis­sion. 

This long-term over­sight body would be re­spon­si­ble for im­ple­ment­ing the rec­om­mend­ed poli­cies and reg­u­la­tions and sup­port­ing the de­vel­op­ment of a struc­tured and well-reg­u­lat­ed Cannabis in­dus­try in Do­mini­ca.

ROSEAU, Do­mini­ca, Apr 3, CMC –

CMC/dr/kb/2025