The regulated medicinal cannabis industry could expand in 2026 with the opening of two new facilities now pushing towards operational status, the industry’s regulator confirmed on Friday.
Shanika Roberts-Odle, acting chief executive officer of the Barbados Medicinal Cannabis Licensing Authority (BMCLA), made the disclosure during an open day at Island Naturals Medical Centre at Sheraton Mall.
“There are at least two that are intent on getting their business up and running this year,” she told Barbados TODAY, while cautioning that the authority was careful not to make promises it could not guarantee. She confirmed that the two facilities would fall within the pharmacy or therapeutic category, offering regulated access to medicinal cannabis under medical supervision.
The open day formed part of activities marking the fifth anniversary of the BMCLA. Roberts-Odle noted that in 2025, two businesses successfully opened their doors, representing what she described as tangible progress in an industry that was never expected to develop overnight.
The authority has issued about 12 licences across the value chain, covering cultivation, manufacturing, retail, transport, security and research and development, including a licence held by The University of the West Indies, Roberts-Odle said. She explained that while some licensees were already operational, others were still navigating business, financing and logistical hurdles.
But financing remains one of the most significant challenges facing the industry, largely due to international banking constraints linked to the continued federal illegality of cannabis in the United States.
“We do not live in a world by ourselves, and everything that happens outside of these shores affects what happens here,” she said. “Because they have refused to make it legal on a federal level, it means that our banks here don’t want to engage with it because they’re all US correspondent banks.”
Despite those obstacles, Roberts-Odle urged persistence and collaboration, saying the industry had already demonstrated resilience.
“When you don’t have force, you work it out, and you make something work,” she said. “My advice to persons who are interested in the industry is to work together. Come together as a group of individuals.
We are always willing to sit down with you and have a conversation and look at how we can find a way to make it work. There is always a way.”
Regarding the open day, she said it was an opportunity for Bajans to learn more about medicinal cannabis.
“This is part of our five-year celebration. It’s really about throwing open the doors and letting Barbadians walk through, letting them talk to the doctor, let them talk to the staff and talk to the pharmacist, and let them see that this is not a guy on the street corner on the lamppost in the dark kind of thing,” she said. “This is something in which we have been carefully monitoring and have really put our efforts behind making sure that it is as safe as we can possibly make it for Barbadians, not just in terms of creating an industry, but also in terms of patient care.”
Public education remained critical, given decades of stigma associated with cannabis use: “You can’t tell somebody something is dope for 50 years, snap your fingers and think they’re going to think differently about it,” Roberts-Odle said, adding that exposure and open discussion were essential to changing public attitudes.
At the Sheraton Mall facility, she explained, patients could access locally grown medicinal cannabis flowers, as well as creams, oils, tinctures and oil vapes, some of which were sourced overseas.
She contrasted this with the Island Therapeutics facility in Worthing, which focuses primarily on flowers grown in Barbados and compounded products prepared by pharmacists.
“The pharmacist is really behind a lot of that work at the other facility,” she said, pointing to the role of trained professionals in ensuring quality and safety.
Roberts-Odle stressed that the authority did not interfere with the relationship between patients and doctors and had not restricted what conditions could be treated with medicinal cannabis. “We are not getting between the relationship between the patient and the doctor,” she said. “That’s really a matter for the medical professional. We trust our medical professionals in Barbados.”
Patients commonly sought relief for cancerrelated pain and nausea, multiple sclerosis symptoms, arthritis, endometrial pain and sleep disorders, while emphasising that cannabis was not a cure-all.
“Cannabis is not snake oil,” she said. “It is another tool in the toolbox that your doctor can use to try to address some of the issues that you’re having, and just like any other medicine, it isn’t for everyone.”
Turning to regulation, she explained that access required a prescription from a registered medical doctor, either from a private practitioner or an on-site doctor at approved facilities, and warned against misconceptions around membership cards. “It’s not a patient card,” she said. “What is important is that when you get your product from either facility, there is a prescription label that goes on the back. That is what will assist you with the police, because it proves that you had a prescription and that you are legally in possession of the product.”
She added that while some people had been stopped, issues were resolved once documentation was produced, and reiterated that smoking medicinal cannabis was not permitted under the regulatory framework, with approved methods limited to vaping, oils, creams and tinctures. sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
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