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Browne called the criminalization of cannabis “cruel” and “horrendous,” rooted in outdated colonial laws that disproportionately impacted poor and marginalized communities.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.
