Sint Maarten: Parliament Votes Down Cannabis Contract Disclosure

As of 27 August 2026, the Parliament of Sint Maarten has refused to make the government’s cannabis concession agreement public. MP Ludmila de Weever’s motion asking for the documents lost by 8 votes to 7 during the concluding debate on the draft 2026 budget. For anyone flying into Princess Juliana or docking at Philipsburg, the practical situation is unchanged: cannabis remains illegal on both sides of the island.

The motion sought the procurement and evaluation documents, the government authorizations, the April 2024 agreement and its annexes, the legal advice behind it, and information on exclusivity and the country’s financial exposure, all within six weeks. De Weever told Parliament the request was about accountability rather than policy. “This motion is not a request for stopping our trajectory of legalization,” she said, adding that what she was after was the financial consequence.

The agreement at the centre of it went to Native Nations Cannabis SXM after a request for proposals issued on 13 September 2022. Reporting describes a 10-year concession carrying exclusive or preferential rights across import, cultivation, processing, testing, distribution, and sale. Former minister Omar Ottley, who held the health portfolio at the time, confirmed to Parliament that he signed it. “I was the one who signed the contract. It’s not a secret,” Ottley said, adding that bidders had originally wanted 30 years and that he cut the term down. The full contract has not been published, so the specific terms rest on descriptions rather than the document.

TEATT Minister Grisha Heyliger-Marten declined to release the paperwork on confidentiality grounds and offered a closed-door session instead. De Weever’s response, reported by The Daily Herald, was “What are you hiding?” A Native Nations representative, Clifton Brown, said the 10-year term was written into the original tender and was not added after the company won.

None of this legalizes anything yet. Cannabis in Sint Maarten is governed by the Opium Ordinance, possession can carry up to four years, and the concession rights cannot take effect until Parliament passes cannabis legislation that does not yet exist. Ottley made the same point from the floor: the agreement does not override Parliament.

What This Means

If you are visiting this season, plan exactly as you would have in July. There is no legal purchase on the Dutch side, no dispensary, and no tolerance policy you can rely on. Princess Juliana International Airport screens for drugs on departure, and the cruise port enforces on the way back aboard. A ship will not hold sailing for a detained passenger.

The open border is still the sharpest risk on this island. Walking from Philipsburg to Marigot puts you under French law on Saint Martin, where the on-the-spot fine for simple use is 200 euros today and has been cleared to rise to 500 euros once the text is published in France’s Journal officiel. Nothing marks the crossing.

What to Watch

Two things move this story next. The first is any cannabis bill actually reaching the floor, since the concession sits idle without one. The second is whether De Weever accepts the closed-door briefing, and whether anything from it reaches the public record. A motion defeated by one vote tends to come back.