Is Cannabis / THC legal in Saint Lucia?

Also known as: weed, marijuana

Legal status

Controlled, and partly decriminalised by Act 13 of 2021. Cannabis is printed in two different Parts of Schedule 2 and the act does not reconcile them. Part I, Class A, prints 'Cannabis' and 'Cannabis resin' as separate entries. Part II, Class B, prints 'Cannabis and cannabis resin'. Both spellings are identical in the 31 December 2008 revision and in the Revised Edition showing the law as at 31 December 2021, so this is the statute book's own text and not a transcription slip. On ordinary construction the specific Part II naming governs and cannabis is a Class B drug, but the Part I entries have never been repealed. Section 2 defines 'cannabis' as 'any plant of the genus cannabis or any part of any such plant (by whatever name designated)' and 'cannabis resin' as 'the separated resin, whether crude or purified obtained from any plant or any part of a plant of the genus cannabis'. Section 8A, inserted by Act 13 of 2021 and in force 27 September 2021, provides that 'a person who is in possession of 30 grammes or less of cannabis or cannabis resin is not guilty of an offence' and that prosecution and punishment under section 37 does not apply at or below that quantity. Section 4(2) lets the Minister amend Schedule 2 by statutory instrument after consultation with or on the recommendation of the Advisory Council, and section 49 lets the Minister amend the Schedules by order, so the printed schedule is not the last word. No statutory instrument later than the Revised Edition showing the law as at 31 December 2021 was read here, and no index of Saint Lucia statutory instruments could be enumerated, so that is a real limit on this cell and not a form of words.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Possession of 30 grammes or less is not an offence at all under section 8A. Above that figure, section 8(4)(e), as amended by Act 13 of 2021 from 15 grammes to 30 grammes, deems the possessor to hold the cannabis for supply or for drug trafficking unless the contrary is proved, the burden of proof being on the accused. So 30 grammes is both the floor of criminality and the trigger of the trafficking presumption, with no band of simple possession between them. Section 27A, also inserted in 2021, makes it an offence to smoke any part of the plant genus cannabis in a public place or, as owner or occupier, knowingly to permit another to do so, punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding $1,500, and section 27A(3) provides that the penalty 'does not form part of the criminal record of the person'. Section 14A requires a child or young person found in possession of cannabis to participate in an approved drug counselling programme. Cultivation is governed separately: section 9 makes it unlawful to cultivate any plant of the genus Cannabis, punishable under Schedule 3 by 3 years and/or $100,000 summarily and 14 years and/or $200,000 on indictment, but the Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) (Cannabis Cultivation) Regulations, Statutory Instrument 208/2021 in force 22 December 2021, permit a person to cultivate not more than 4 cannabis plants at a time at his or her dwelling-house, to possess that cannabis and to obtain dried cannabis, fresh cannabis, cannabis or cannabis seeds, with regulation 7 confining indoor cultivation to one room and regulation 8 prohibiting cultivation within a radius of 100 yards of school premises. Section 11(c) and (d) reach an occupier who permits cannabis to be prepared for smoking or smoked on the premises. Schedule 3, which section 37 brings into effect, sets every punishment and it graduates by class rather than by substance. The Class A and Class B columns carry identical figures in every row of Schedule 3, so the class split makes no difference to the sentence. Importation or exportation under section 5(3) and production or being concerned in production under section 6(2) each carry, on summary conviction, 3 years or $100,000, and on indictment 14 years and $200,000. Supplying or offering to supply under section 6(3) carries the same figures. Possession under section 8(2) carries, on summary conviction, 3 years or $100,000, and on indictment 7 years or $200,000. Possession with intent to supply under section 8(3) carries, on summary conviction, 3 years and/or $100,000, and on indictment 14 years and/or $200,000. Section 25(1) is a separate trafficking ceiling and it does not graduate by substance at all: on summary conviction a fine of $100,000 or, where there is evidence of the street value of the controlled drug, 3 times that street value whichever is the greater, together with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years but which shall not be less than 5 years; on conviction on indictment, imprisonment for life. Section 2 defines drug trafficking to reach producing, supplying, transporting, storing, importing and exporting a controlled drug. The act provides no death penalty and the words death, capital and sentenced to death appear nowhere in it. Section 12(1) makes possession of any controlled drug in or within a radius of one hundred yards of school premises unlawful in itself and section 12(4) deems that possession to be for supply unless the contrary is proved. Section 25(3) separately deems possession in any school premises to be for drug trafficking unless the contrary is proved. Section 38 requires forfeiture on conviction.

If prescribed or medical

Section 10(3) obliges the Minister to secure by regulations that a doctor, dentist or veterinary practitioner acting as such may prescribe, administer, manufacture, compound or supply a controlled drug, and section 10(1)(b) is the power the Cannabis Cultivation Regulations were made under. Those regulations are about home cultivation and say nothing about medical supply. No medicinal cannabis scheme appears anywhere in the act or in the subsidiary legislation printed with it, and the search terms medical cannabis, medicinal cannabis, dispensary and licence to cultivate for medical purposes return nothing. The Dangerous Drugs (Cocaine, Morphine, etc.) Regulations do reach 'any extract or tincture of Indian hemp' at regulation 3(a), so a cannabis extract or tincture falls inside the 1940 prescription conditions in regulation 6. Whether regulations under sections 10 and 21 of this act have been made was not established here.

Documentation

Carry a prescribed controlled medicine in its original pharmacy packaging with the prescription. The 30 gramme exemption in section 8A is a substantive exemption and not a documentation allowance, and it does not touch importation. Section 5(1)(a) prohibits the importation of a controlled drug outright and section 8A is expressed as an exception to section 8 alone, so bringing cannabis into Saint Lucia remains an importation offence under section 5(3) whatever the quantity. Sections 15 to 18 govern controlled drugs in transit under an export authorisation or diversion certificate, which is consignment traffic and not personal carriage. No local traveller permit scheme was established here.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Saint Lucia’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.