In a unanimous vote on Thursday, the V.I. Cannabis Board appointed Hannah Carty as the executive director, tasked with promoting medical marijuana and cannabis resources to the territory. After a 20-minute executive session, newly appointed board member Richard Evangelista moved to assign Carty a salary of $100,000. Carty will serve at the V.I. Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, Office of Cannabis Regulations.
“It has been a pleasure to have such a talented individual as Ms. Hannah Carty and it has been a pleasure working with her since January. I look forward to her officially joining the office of cannabis with this motion,” said Chairwoman Catherine Kean.
“I’m very pleased that we have gotten to this point. I know that the Virgin Islands population is anxious to get to work. I’m delighted that the well and capable Ms. Carty is officially in place to continue moving forward in bringing this medicinal cannabis programs to our population, here in the Virgin Islands,” said board member and Agriculture Commissioner Positive Nelson.
Evangelista added to the sentiments, saying, “I can tell you from personal experience I have friends who have told me online and upon their return to the Virgin Islands they were patiently, anxiously waiting for the use of medicinal marijuana.” Evangelista also challenged anyone who is interested in being a part of the board to fill the other vacancies “so we can get this business going,” he said.
Carty wasted no time in presenting to the board her intentions of hitting the ground running. “I really appreciate your vote of confidence in moving forward the work in getting the work of cannabis onboard here in the Virgin Islands,” she said.
“I just wanted to touch on the next steps that we have to get this program started here. We have to finalize the rules and regulations in the next few weeks and the other thing will be to discuss a strategic plan which will include the timeline of when items will be rolling out over the next couple of months.”
The V.I. Cannabis Board still has several vacancies open that, by statute, must be filled with a farmer, pharmacist, naturopath, economic or finance expert. If interested in joining the board, apply by sending an email to Info.ocr@ocr.vi.gov.
Members in attendance at the V.I. Cannabis Board meeting were Kean, Nelson, Evangelista, Gary Jett, Chris Jones, and Nicole Sims, who voted by proxy. The next board meeting will be held on Aug. 10.
