The Cannabis Advisory Board voted Wednesday to approve rules and regulations for cannabis licensing and enforcement, and announced that Joanne Moorehead is the new director for the Office of Cannabis Regulations.
The board called the meeting with little public notice, and did not publish an agenda until minutes before the online meeting began.
Several board members hailed it as a momentous occasion, while also acknowledging there is still a long way to go before legal cannabis will become a reality for Virgin Islanders.
All board members in attendance — Chairwoman Dr. Catherine Kean, Bryan’s Chief Legal Counsel Richard Evangelista, Positive Nelson, Dr. Gary Jett, Dr. Nicole Syms, and Chris Jones — voted unanimously to approve the draft rules.
Evangelista summarized comments submitted by 17 members of the public, which ranged from concerns about testing for heavy metal contamination in cannabis products, to lowering the $20-per-transaction fee for non-resident buyers.
One comment suggested lowering the legal age to consume cannabis from 21 to 18, which would align with the territory’s drinking age of 18.
The Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs oversees the OCR, and DLCA Commissioner Nathalie Hodge serves as a non-voting member. Hodge said she heard there is legislation being proposed that would raise the drinking age to 21.
Nelson said legislation to raise the drinking age has been up for discussion for years. But it has never been passed as it’s long been a custom to have the drinking age at 18, and Caribbean people are not as prone to underage drinking, he said.
“The Virgin Islands don’t have a drinking problem like they have in the states,” Nelson said.
Nelson has been a long-time proponent of cannabis legalization, first as a senator, then as Agriculture Commissioner, and now as Gov. Albert Bryan Jr.’s special advisor on cannabis.
“This is not all done, this is our first pass through,” Nelson added, and Kean agreed that amendments will be made to the rules as the process continues.
Both also praised former OCR Director Hannah Carty who resigned the position in March, and said they hope Moorehead can lead the rollout of a legal cannabis licensing and enforcement program.
“We received at least four or five applications,” Kean said, and ultimately decided that Moorehead was the best choice to lead the office into helping “the whole industry into coming to fruition.”
Moorehead has had 15 years of experience in nonprofit administration and fundraising before working in the pubic sector “and becoming a writer, editor, author of children’s books and an entrepreneur. She owns a Caribbean-based publishing house and interior design firm, and a hospitality industry company,” Kean said.
“She also served as secretary for both the board of trustees of Antilles School, and the board of the Schneider Regional Medical Center Foundation. She also is a nationally registered paramedic for eight years,” Kean said.
Moorehead “currently works as the Public Information Officer for the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency, and she also previously worked in the Office of the Governor as Chief of Protocol,” Kean added.
Moorehead could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
But she took the opportunity to thank board members during the meeting, and pledged to “continuing on that trajectory” that Carty set.
“I appreciate the support and the confidence, and look forward to getting a good job done for the people,” Moorehead said.
Kean said Moorehead does not have a definitive start date, “but I suspect within the next two to four weeks, Joanne will be fully on staff. So, lots going on at this meeting.”
“I am so elated that we’ve gotten here,” Evangelista said. “We were close when we had the Medical Use Act, and then we went ahead and amended, and now we have the Cannabis Use Act.”
Approval of the rules “is the blueprint for us to actually move forward,” Evangelista said. “I just want to thank the community, my board members, and the users who are anxiously awaiting so that they can do this in compliance with the law.”
While rules and regulations are now in place, cannabis will remain illegal to grow, use, possess, or sell until the government establishes the licensing and enforcement system called for by the law Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. signed in January 2023. Bryan previously signed a medical cannabis law in 2019, but the government never drafted rules to implement it.