Cannabis Control Act, 2022

The Red House in Port of Spain, the building of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago, in December 2022.

The Red House in Port of Spain, the building of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago, in December 2022.

Cannabis Control Act, 2022

An Act to provide for the regulatory control of the handling of cannabis for certain purposes, the establishment of the Trinidad and Tobago Cannabis Licensing Authority and connected matters

Instrument

Type	Act
Number	Act No. 10 of 2022
Jurisdiction	Trinidad and Tobago
Enacted by	Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago
Adopted	17 June 2022 (assent); published in the Gazette on 23 June 2022
In force from	On a date to be fixed by the President by proclamation (s. 2); awaiting proclamation as at 2 November 2026

Status

Status	Not yet in force

Cannabis

Establishes the Trinidad and Tobago Cannabis Licensing Authority (s. 4); licences for handling cannabis for medicinal, therapeutic or scientific purposes and for religious purposes (s. 29); a sacramental dispensary may give no more than 30 grams to any single adherent (s. 47)

Text

Read the official text

The Cannabis Control Act, 2022 (Act No. 10 of 2022) is a statute of Trinidad and Tobago that provides for "the regulatory control of the handling of cannabis for certain purposes" and establishes the Trinidad and Tobago Cannabis Licensing Authority. The Authority may license the growing, processing, import, export, transport and dispensing of cannabis for medicinal, therapeutic or scientific purposes, and separately for religious purposes; the religious licences go only to registered non-profit religious organisations whose constituent documents state that cannabis is required as a sacrament. The President assented to the Act on 17 June 2022, and it was published in the Trinidad and Tobago Gazette on 23 June 2022. It comes into operation on a date that the President fixes by proclamation. On 2 November 2026 the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago's page for the bill showed it at the stage "Assent: Awaiting Proclamation": the Act was not yet in force.

Background and passage

Cannabis is a dangerous drug under the Dangerous Drugs Act, Chap. 11:25. The Act of 1991 lists "Cannabis, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis sativa L, their preparations, derivatives and similar synthetic preparations" in its Second Schedule, and the consolidated text makes it an offence to cultivate, gather or produce marijuana "except where he does so under a licence granted under section 4" of that Act. The Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2019 added exceptions to the possession and cultivation offences of section 5 for a person holding not more than 30 grams of cannabis or 5 grams of cannabis resin, and for a person growing or holding not more than four plants. That Act came into operation on 23 December 2019.

The Cannabis Control Bill, 2020 was introduced in the House of Representatives on 14 October 2020 as House of Representatives Bill 12 of 2020. The House passed it on 29 April 2022 and the Senate on 17 May 2022, and on 3 June 2022 the House agreed to the amendments the Senate had made. The President's assent followed on 17 June 2022.

Cannabis in the text

Definitions

Section 3 defines the plant material the Act regulates:

• cannabis: "all parts of any plant of the genus cannabis, including any resin obtained from the plant";
• cannabis resin: "the separated resin, whether crude or purified, obtained from any plant of the genus cannabis";
• cannabis material: cannabis, cannabis resin and "any other raw material derived from the cannabis plant";
• cultivation: "includes harvesting, curing and drying".

It also defines tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as "the main active ingredient in cannabis" and cannabidiol (CBD) as a substance in the plant that acts on receptors in the brain and body "to give a therapeutic effect". Handling covers the use, cultivation, processing, import, export, transport, manufacture, sale, distribution and possession of cannabis, and scientific research and testing on it, but not a patient's use of medicinal cannabis on a medical practitioner's prescription or recommendation.

The Act's definition of cannabis takes in the resin. The definition the 2019 amendment wrote into the Dangerous Drugs Act covers the plant, its parts, its seeds and preparations of them, but leaves out cannabis resin, fibre from the stalk, oil or cake made from the seeds, sterilised seeds that cannot germinate, and other ingredients combined with the plant in topical or oral preparations.

The Dangerous Drugs Act

Section 3(4) provides that the Dangerous Drugs Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act, the Medical Board Act and the Pharmacy Board Act "shall not prohibit, or otherwise restrict or render unlawful" the cultivation, processing, extraction, distribution, import, export, possession or other handling of cannabis in accordance with the Act. Other provisions refer to the Dangerous Drugs Act directly. The bar on members of the Authority's Board and its chief executive handling cannabis, and the yearly declaration that goes with it, apply "Subject to section 5(2)(f) and (g) of the Dangerous Drugs Act", the small-amount exceptions that the 2019 amendment added (ss. 6(3), 14 and 15). A person convicted of an indictable offence under the Dangerous Drugs Act or the Proceeds of Crime Act may not hold a medicinal licence "unless the conviction has been expunged under the Dangerous Drugs Act" (s. 30(2)). The ban on commercial dealing by religious licensees does not restrict the Director of Public Prosecutions from prosecuting under the Dangerous Drugs Act where there are reasonable grounds to suspect an intention to break it (s. 46(3)).

The Licensing Authority

The Trinidad and Tobago Cannabis Licensing Authority is a body corporate "responsible for the regulatory control of the handling of cannabis" under the Act (s. 4). Its functions include advising the health ministry on policy; granting, suspending and revoking licences; inspecting licensed handling; keeping a register of licensees and an electronic database to track the handling of cannabis; and identifying ways to "protect the vulnerable" while ensuring prevention and rehabilitation policies for cannabis-use disorders (s. 5). It is to facilitate scientific research and apply its results "in the development of the cannabis industry", and to research the public-health and social effects of cannabis.

An eleven-member Board, appointed by the President, manages the Authority. Its members need at least five years' experience in one of eleven fields: law, management, finance or accounting, medicine, psychiatry, scientific research, agriculture, law enforcement, education, drug rehabilitation or public health (s. 6). The Minister must publish the members' names in the Gazette and in two daily newspapers (s. 9). A chief executive, employed for at most four years, runs the Authority day to day (s. 15). It is financed from a fund made up of parliamentary appropriations, licence fees and other receipts, and may not borrow from or take grants from anyone it regulates (s. 20). Beginning one year after the Act comes into operation, it reports to Parliament every year (s. 28). Regulations under the Act are made by the Authority with the Minister's approval and need the affirmative resolution of Parliament (s. 67).

Medicinal, therapeutic and scientific licences

Section 29(1) lists eight licences "for medicinal, therapeutic or scientific purposes":

• a Cultivator Licence, for growing, harvesting, drying, trimming, curing, packaging or storing cannabis and selling it wholesale to research, laboratory, processor and export licensees;
• a Research and Development Licence, for scientific research "for the purpose of improving or further developing cannabis";
• a Laboratory Licence, for testing and analytical services;
• a Processor Licence, for processing cannabis material and producing medicinal cannabis, "including but not limited to, edibles and other derivatives";
• a Retail Distributor Licence, for a pharmacy or dispensary that dispenses medicinal cannabis to patients;
• Import, Export and Transport Licences. Cannabis may be imported "from any country where it is legal so to do" and exported "in keeping with the laws of any such country".

Holders of a research or laboratory licence also receive an import and export licence for that work (s. 29(2)).

Applicants for a medicinal licence must be 18 or older and citizens or permanent residents of Trinidad and Tobago or citizens of another state of the Caribbean Community, or else a company, firm, partnership or co-operative society (s. 30(1)). A company needs at least 30 per cent ownership by such persons, except for research and laboratory licences (s. 30(3)–(4)). Except for transport licences, each application is published in the Gazette, in two daily newspapers and on the Authority's website, and anyone may object to it in writing (s. 31). No licence may be granted for a dwelling house (s. 34(1A)), and a licence runs for at most three years (s. 35). A person aggrieved by a refusal to grant or renew a licence, by its suspension or revocation, or by an administrative fine may appeal to the High Court within thirty days (s. 66).

Medicinal use

Part V sets the rules for patients. Using medicinal cannabis without a prescription or recommendation from a medical practitioner is an offence, punishable on summary conviction by a fine of TT$10,000 and six months' imprisonment, or on indictment by TT$100,000 and ten years (s. 41(1)). A child may use medicinal cannabis only with a doctor's certificate that it is necessary and the written consent of a parent or guardian (s. 41(2)). Where a prescription or recommendation runs over several months, a pharmacy or dispensary may hand out no more than a thirty-day supply at a time (s. 42). A patient may name a caregiver, who must be at least 18, hold a doctor's certificate of not being addicted to a dangerous drug, and have no indictable conviction under the Dangerous Drugs Act (s. 44). Only a pharmacist, or staff under a pharmacist's supervision, may dispense medicinal cannabis, on a prescription or recommendation and a valid form of identification (s. 45). The Act also defines a visitor: a patient who is not resident in Trinidad and Tobago and holds a prescription or recommendation for medicinal cannabis.

Religious use

Section 29(3) provides five licences "for religious purposes": Cultivator (Religious), Dispensary (Religious), Import (Religious), Export (Religious) and Transport (Religious). A religious organisation is one "whose values are based on faith and beliefs" that draws its members from a particular faith group and is registered as a non-profit organisation under the Non-Profit Organisations Act, 2019. The organisation's controller may apply where its constituent documents "state that cannabis is required for religious purposes as a sacrament in adherence to a religious practice of the religious organisation" (s. 30(5)). The application gives the names of its leaders, the address of its place of worship, a survey plan of the land where the cannabis is to be grown, and how the cannabis will be carried from there to the place of worship or the sacramental dispensary (s. 30(6)).

Religious licensees may not handle cannabis for commercial benefit of any kind, or sell or supply it for money or gain; the offence carries a fine of TT$10,000 and six months' imprisonment (s. 46). A sacramental dispensary may not be run for profit, may dispense only to registered adherents of the organisation, and may "dispense no more than thirty grams of cannabis to any single adherent at a regulated frequency as may be prescribed" (s. 47). The Minister may declare by order an exempt event, promoted by a religious leader and held primarily for religious purposes. No one at such an event may be arrested, detained or prosecuted for cannabis carried to it or possessed, supplied or used there, within the amount and conditions the order sets (s. 48). Dispensing cannabis to a child at a place of worship, a sacramental dispensary or an exempt event carries a fine of TT$250,000 and five years' imprisonment (s. 49).

Inspection and penalties

Inspectors appointed by the Authority may enter licensed premises with or without a warrant, take samples and photographs, copy documents, seize evidence and halt an activity they believe breaches the Act or a licence (ss. 58–62). A magistrate may issue a police officer a warrant to enter a dwelling house where an offence under the Act is suspected (s. 63). For prescribed summary offences the Authority may offer an administrative fine in place of prosecution (s. 64). Where no other penalty is provided, breach of the Act or its regulations carries a fine of TT$100,000 (s. 65).

Commencement and later amendment

Section 2 leaves the date of commencement to the President, by proclamation. On 2 November 2026 the Parliament's page for the bill still showed the Act at "Assent: Awaiting Proclamation".

The Miscellaneous Provisions (Alcohol, Cannabis, Dangerous Drugs, Gambling and Tobacco) Bill, 2026 (House of Representatives Bill 17 of 2026) would amend the Cannabis Control Act along with the Dangerous Drugs Act and five other laws. The House passed it on 30 September 2026 and the Senate on 7 October 2026, and on 30 October 2026 the House agreed to the Senate's amendments. On 2 November 2026 its stage on the Parliament's website was "House of Representatives - Senate Amendments"; it had not received assent.

See also

• Trinidad and Tobago
• Law 1787 of 2016, Colombia's medical-cannabis statute