Parliamentarians from the governing party were locked in meetings at the Office of the Prime Minister on Thursday evening ahead of debate on the Cannabis Bill set to begin in the House Of Assembly on Monday.

Former Co-Chair of the Bahamas National Commission On Marijuana, Bishop Hall spoke with ZNS News about the proposed legislation. He said, “I’m saying the first thing I think we should do is recognize that Marijuana is pervasive throughout our country. Secondly, educate ourselves about it and thirdly, the medicinal value of it.”

The Bishop says he is not promoting the use of Marijuana and that other members of the clergy should recognize how Marijuana has marginalized and criminalized men in the country. “The young man who got in trouble for a bag of Marijuana, how do we restore him and his family? How do we make him right? If we could rectify it, if we could fix it, we should wipe the slate clean and he could expunge that criminal record and he could work and get a job and go to Miami.”

Bishop Hall is fighting his own health challenges. He requires the use of a dialysis machine three times per week and says he and his medical team are researching any benefits medical Marijuana may have in his case.

On the position of the church on Marijuana, Bishop Hall says the church should try to be relevant. “Now that doesn’t mean you go along with the Marijuana smuggling that’s not what we’re saying be enlightened.”

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