The story
Governor Albert Bryan Jr. signed the US Virgin Islands’ medical cannabis law on 19 January 2019. Sponsored by Positive T.A. Nelson, the programme provided for certified patients, licensed businesses and a route for some residents to grow their own medicine.[1][2]
Voters had asked legislators to act
A November 2014 referendum asked voters whether the legislature should consider licensing and regulating medical cannabis patients, caregivers, cultivators and distribution centres. It received 56.5% support, a result cited in the later bill’s preamble.[3]
That preamble described protecting patients, practitioners and caregivers from local arrest and prosecution, alongside regulating the businesses that would grow, process, package and distribute cannabis. The proposal joined patient protection to a system intended to control the supply of medicine.[3]
Patients needed certification and registration
The programme required a qualifying condition and written certification from a healthcare practitioner. Patients applied to the Office of Cannabis Regulation for registration cards; the scheme also provided for caregivers to assist them.[2]
Residents could possess four ounces of cannabis, while nonresident patients had a three-ounce allowance. Patients whose cards authorised cultivation could grow twelve plants in a secure location and keep cannabis harvested from those plants. Either the patient or their designated caregiver could be registered to cultivate for that patient.[2]
A regulated supply chain needed businesses
The medical programme assigned the regulator responsibility for licensing growers, manufacturers, testing facilities and dispensaries. The law’s design therefore brought patient registration together with cultivation, production and retail oversight.[2]
The broader law signed in 2023 replaced the earlier medical chapter with a combined system for medical, adult and sacramental use. It retained higher patient possession limits and expressly allowed qualified residents six flowering and six immature plants for personal medical use, with the landowner’s permission.[4]
Commercial cultivation took longer to begin
In September 2026, regulator Joanne Moorehead reported a certificate to operate for a Tier 1 grower on St. Croix. She said the laboratory was operational and waiting for plants to test, while officials worked with applicants on St. Thomas.[5]
That commercial-growing milestone followed years of establishing the licensing and testing system. The US Virgin Islands profile brings the patient-growing rules and the later retail status together.
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for US Virgin Islands here.
References
- Marijuana Policy Project — US Virgin Islands governor signs medical cannabis bill2019 · Contemporary statement dated Saturday 19 January 2019; sponsor Positive T.A. Nelson and final legislative approval on 28 December
- Marijuana Policy Project — US Virgin Islands medical cannabis law summary2019 · Original programme: resident/nonresident possession, cultivation-endorsed cards, practitioner certification and qualifying conditions
- Virgin Islands Legislature — medical cannabis bill, reported to the floor in December 20182018 · Bill 32-0135; preamble on 4 November 2014 referendum and 56.5% support; definitions and patient registration/cultivation; bill text, not a signed Act
- US Virgin Islands — signed Cannabis Use Act, January 20232023 · Act 8680; sections 779–780, 783–785, 794, 802, 807; final sections 2–3 and 7; signed approval on last PDF page
- St. Thomas Source — cannabis board reviews hemp rules and first commercial growDiana Dias · 2026 · 24 September; office update: certificate to operate for a Tier 1 grower on St. Croix, operational lab awaiting plants; hemp proposals distinguished from final rules
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.