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“They Should Not Have Been Incarcerated in the First Instance” – PM Browne on Cannabis Pardons
Prime Minister Gaston Browne has declared that individuals jailed for possessing small amounts of cannabis “should not have been incarcerated in the first instance,” as he outlined steps his administration is taking to grant pardons and wipe criminal records.
Speaking on his weekly Pointe FM programme on Saturday, June 7, Browne said the government is preparing to introduce a measure in Parliament to formally pardon those convicted of minor cannabis offences and ensure their criminal records are expunged.
“We want to go further. We want to pardon them,” Browne stated. “They should not have been incarcerated in the first instance.”
While legislative work is ongoing, the Prime Minister confirmed that persons convicted of possessing less than 15 grams of cannabis can already begin the process of clearing their records under existing provisions of the Cannabis Act.
“If there’s anyone at this point who may have been incarcerated for small quantities of cannabis in the past—let’s say anything less than 15 grams—we can make provisions in the interim, pending this pardon, to have their slate wiped clean,” he announced.
Browne called the criminalization of cannabis “cruel” and “horrendous,” rooted in outdated colonial laws that disproportionately impacted poor and marginalized communities.
“It is part of our colonial inheritance that, unfortunately, previous leaders may not have been empowered to deal with the way we can now,” he said. “In light of that historical wrong, we want to go to the root of a pardon—to pardon them. So it’s like they never had a conviction.”
The Prime Minister also pointed to existing efforts to support the Rastafari community, who have long advocated for the decriminalization of cannabis. These include granting a 25% stake in a licensed cannabis company, waiving licensing fees worth over US$100,000, and providing agricultural equipment and educational support.
“We’ve helped them build a school, we’ve given them equipment—including an excavator—and now we’ll be helping with housing,” Browne said.
The cannabis pardon initiative forms part of the Browne administration’s broader agenda to promote restorative justice and equity in Antigua and Barbuda, while aligning national laws with evolving regional and global norms around cannabis use and reform.
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I agree wholeheartedly with the Prime Minister and I hope we can finally bring commonsense legislation to Parliament that can rewrite these wrongs. I am a little sad and suspicious that it has taken this long for the Prime Minister to realize that jailing people or even imposing ridiculous fines on them for personal amounts of marijuana was ridiculous and ludicrous. The country’s magistrates are guided by the laws that lawmakers make and they really need to stop jailing and fining people for using marijuana. We need to impose the same ridiculous restrictions on cigarettes and vapes which harbours more serious implications than marijuana.
Long overdue! Too many lives mash up over a little weed.
So who giving them back the years they lost?
We legalise the herb but still got people paying for past charges. That nah right.
Shouldn’t have been locked up at all. Whole justice system need review.
Is like punishing somebody for picking mango in dey yard.
Legal weed but man still can’t get job cause of old record? Fix that.
Imagine all the talent wasted behind bars for nonsense.
Yes free up di weed but good weed 😌
A good thing a God Me put me trust in not man and money