Bermuda appears to be more concerned about what its colonial master Britain thinks rather than what is good for itself. Licensed cannabis production related legislation faced opposition in 2021 with the reasons being cited as Britain would be offended. Licensed cannabis production went apparently went against Britain's international obligations. The Royal Gazette reported that 'The Premier said last night Bermuda’s relationship with the UK would suffer serious damage if a law to license cannabis production failed to get Royal Assent. David Burt said there were indications that the Governor would be unable to give assent to legislation that contravened Britain’s international obligations.'
Obligations is a strange word. Britain is largely responsible for global cannabis prohibition which it started in Burma (today's Myanmar) and then enforced in India, the land of ganja. Using incorrect statistics from India of cannabis and its alleged link to insanity, Britain spread the message of cannabis prohibition to all its colonies. Britain's offspring - the US - took it a step further by creating the Marihuana Act in 1937. The US used its clout in the UN to include cannabis in the Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs in 1961 and make most nations signatory to the treaty. This treaty is what is commonly cited by nations who are unwilling to listen to the voices of their people when the people demand cannabis legalization for use as safe intoxicant, valuable medicine and sustainable means of income and livelihood.
The reason why Britain and its allies pushed forward cannabis prohibition globally is so that they could sell their preferred drugs - opium, alcohol, tobacco and synthetic pharmaceutical medicine - and gain far greater revenue than they could if cannabis - the herb of the poorest classes, indigenous communities and the working classes - was available freely at little or no cost. Bermuda will do well to shake off its colonial legacy that threatens to further enslave its people through these harmful substitutes for cannabis. In the process, Bermuda will see vast improvements in public health, increase in sustainable livelihoods and income, boost to tourism and the possibility of including the precious cannabis to its bouquet of international export commodities if it is able to produce surplus cannabis.
Bermuda's flag still sports the British flag in addition to its own coat of arms showing the influence that Britain still has on a group of islands thousands of miles away that the British used for growing their tobacco. The local indigenous communities and black population who were brought in as slaves from Africa were used for cultivating tobacco in plantations. Today, Bermuda faces the direct impact of global warming and rising sea levels. The cultivation of cannabis and the shedding of British influences in its existence will mean that Bermuda is a free nation once again. Two other British colonies that had the British flag embedded in their national flag - Canada and South Africa - have both shed their colonial legacies by legalizing cannabis and removing the British emblem from their flags. It remains to be seen if and when Bermuda will do the same...
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'The Premier said last night Bermuda’s relationship with the UK would suffer serious damage if a law to license cannabis production failed to get Royal Assent.
David Burt said there were indications that the Governor would be unable to give assent to legislation that contravened Britain’s international obligations.'
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