The story
Curaçao’s Advisory Council asked the government to strengthen its proposed medical-cannabis industry before taking the bill to Parliament. In July 2019, its concerns included the economic case, licensing procedures and how a new cannabis bureau would pay growers and recover its money from buyers.[1]
Growing still needed a change in the law
The inherited drug ordinance prohibited growing plants of the genus Cannabis. Its later consolidated text also controlled possession and use, while providing medical exceptions for specified activities and lawfully obtained treatment supplies.[2]
Small personal quantities were handled through a separate prosecution policy. That guidance offered confiscation and possible dismissal in its lowest cannabis band. It required prosecutors to assess grow cases individually, considering their scale and circumstances. For minors, even user quantities were to be prosecuted to support assistance services.[3]
A bureau would stand between growers and buyers
The proposed system required licensed growers to sell their cannabis plants exclusively to the new bureau. The council asked how harvest purchases would be financed and what guarantees would ensure that buyers repaid the bureau. It also sought clearer application procedures and stronger support for the economic assumptions.[1]
The council concluded that the government should address its observations before submitting the proposal. Its signed opinion is dated 16 July 2019.[1]
Investors anticipated a new industry
By September, local reporting said a bill for the cannabis office had reached Parliament. The office was intended to maintain contact with growers and sellers.[4]
In October, ministry official Alvin Daal reported interest from nine companies. He described plans covering cultivation, processing, medicine manufacturing and research, with local investors collaborating with overseas businesses. The jobs and revenues he discussed were forecasts attached to those plans.[5]
Approval remained a political question
In April 2023, opposition lawmakers renewed their call for approval after two parliamentary discussions and a change of government. The reporting identified former minister Suzanne Camelia-Römer as the original political advocate.[6]
The replacement ordinance in 2024 retained the cultivation ban and medical exceptions, and created a route for future exemptions requiring Parliament’s prior approval. The Curaçao profile sets out those rules and the separate prosecution guidance for small quantities.[7]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Curaçao here.
References
- Curaçao Advisory Council — Opinion on the medicinal-cannabis production bill, 16 July 2019RA/18-19-LV, pp. 3–8; economic feasibility, proposed licensing, bureau and financing; signed 16 July 2019archived
- Curaçao — Opiumlandsverordening 1960, consolidated text published 15 May 2019Publicatieblad 2019 No. 17 (GT); articles 2a–8 and 11archived
- Prosecutor-General — Drug prosecution guideline 2018/01Pages 1–3 and 5–6; commencement, requests, cannabis bands, exceptions and cultivationarchived
- Curaçao Chronicle — Curaçao gets special cannabis agency, 18 September 2019archived
- Curaçao Chronicle — Nine companies have plans for legal cannabis, 8 October 2019archived
- Curaçao Chronicle — Opposition parties want approval of medical cannabis bill, 7 April 2023archived
- Curaçao — Opiumlandsverordening 2024, Publicatieblad 2024 No. 74Articles 2a, 3a, 4–8a, 11 and 17–19; issued 5 July 2024archived
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.