UK Government Blocks Bermuda From Legalizing Cannabis On Same Day New PM Truss Takes Office

Marijuana Moment reports

The United Kingdom has a new leader. And one of the government’s first acts under Prime Minister Liz Truss was to refuse to give formal permission to allow Bermuda to enact a law to legalize and regulate marijuana—despite reports that Truss herself previously supported legalizing cannabis.

CANNABIS LICENSING BILL 2022

I previously announced that I had reserved the Cannabis Licensing Bill 2022 for the signification of Her Majesty’s pleasure under Section 35 (2) of The Bermuda Constitution.

I have now received an instruction, issued to me on Her Majesty’s behalf, not to Assent to the Bill as drafted.

The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs concluded that the Bill, as currently drafted, is not consistent with obligations held by the UK and Bermuda under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.

I have informed the Premier and relayed the UK’s continued desire to work with Bermuda on reforms within the scope of our existing international obligations.

Her Excellency Ms Rena Lalgie

 

This is a development that top Bermuda officials and UK reform advocates are not taking lightly, with some characterizing it as colonialist era overreach by the UK that may rise to the level of a constitutional crisis.

Lawmakers in Bermuda, a British territory since the 17th century, approved the administration’s “flagship” cannabis legalization proposal earlier this year, but it was withheld for months as the government awaited “royal assent”—a formal, monarchical sign-off on legislation—from the UK-appointed governor of the territory.

Then, on the same day that Truss became prime minister of the UK, the government informed Bermuda that it had decided “not to assent to the bill as drafted,” Bermuda Gov. Rena Lalgie announced. The UK said it couldn’t give its authorization based on its interpretation of international treaties that bar member states from legalizing cannabis for reasons beyond medical or scientific use.

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UK Government Blocks Bermuda From Legalizing Marijuana On Same Day New Prime Minister Takes Office

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