Antigua: Cannabis Authority Distances Pares Bust From Rastafari Sacramental Licensees

As of June 2026, the Antigua and Barbuda Medicinal Cannabis Authority has issued a formal statement to draw a hard line between a large unlicensed cannabis operation broken up near Pares Village and the Rastafari religious bodies that hold lawful sacramental authorizations in Antigua and Barbuda.

The trigger was a joint law-enforcement operation on 4 June 2026 at an unlicensed plantation in Pares, in the parish of Saint Peter. Officers seized roughly 1,000 pounds of cured cannabis and more than 500 cannabis plants. Four men were taken into custody and later charged. The next day, Assistant Superintendent of Police Frankie Thomas defended the operation to Antigua News, telling reporters the cultivation “did not fall within” any licensing category recognised by the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2018 or the Cannabis Act 2018.

What the Authority said

In its press statement, the Medicinal Cannabis Authority confirmed that the entity at the centre of the enforcement action does not hold, and has never been granted, a Sacramental Cannabis Authorization or a Medicinal Cannabis Licence of any kind. The Authority also reminded the public that no organisation in Antigua and Barbuda has been authorised to extend, share, or confer cultivation rights on any other person or group. A sacramental authorization belongs solely to the religious body to which it is granted. It does not cover unaffiliated individuals, unapproved locations, or downstream cooperatives.

The Authority closed the statement by noting that the Pares matter casts no shadow on the Rastafari communities that hold sacramental authorizations through the established process, operate within their authorised quantities and lands, and remain partners in the regulated framework. With the case now before the court, the Authority said it would make no further comment on the investigation.

The two-tier framework, again

This is the second time in a month the Authority has reached for the same explainer. In late May, CEO Regis Burton briefed nearly 60 police recruits on the same legal split: 15 grams or less is not an offence for anyone in the country, four plants per household is lawful for residents, and beyond that, cannabis is either inside the regulated medicinal track or it is illicit. There is no third path.

For travellers, the Pares case is a useful read on enforcement posture. The 15-gram personal threshold and the four-plant home-grow allowance are stable. Commercial-scale cultivation outside the licensed system remains a hard enforcement target, and the Authority is publicly backing the police on that point.

What This Means

If you are on the ground in Antigua for the 2026 Cannabis Festival or just spending a week in St. John’s or English Harbour, the practical guidance is unchanged. Personal possession at the decriminalised threshold is fine. There are no licensed dispensaries open to the public, so any retail purchase is an illegal sale, and Pares confirms that police will act on unlicensed supply.

For Rastafari sacramental licensees, the statement is the Authority’s clearest public defence of the religious-use framework since it stood up the sacramental programme. The signal to congregations is to keep working through the established licensing process, and to expect the Authority to defend that distinction in public when enforcement actions blur it.

What to watch

The four men charged in the Pares case will move through the magistrates’ court in the weeks ahead. The Authority has said it will not comment on the proceedings. Watch instead for any guidance from the Authority on how the sacramental authorisation’s “designated lands” and “registered congregation” conditions are enforced in practice, since the Pares clarification turned on exactly those two limits.