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The An­tigua and Bar­bu­da gov­ern­ment says it will ta­ble at the next sit­ting of Par­lia­ment, leg­is­la­tion aimed at ex­pung­ing the crim­i­nal records of in­di­vid­u­als con­vict­ed for pos­ses­sion of small quan­ti­ties of cannabis and grant­i­ng them of­fi­cial par­dons.

A state­ment is­sued fol­low­ing the week­ly Cab­i­net meet­ing said that At­tor­ney Gen­er­al and the Min­istry of Le­gal Af­fairs, Stead­roy Cut­tie Ben­jamin has been au­tho­rised to draft the leg­is­la­tion that will of­fer a par­don to per­sons con­vict­ed of hav­ing less than 15 grams of mar­i­jua­na.

It said that the pro­posed leg­is­la­tion will al­so ap­ply to in­di­vid­u­als con­vict­ed un­der the Pub­lic Health Amend­ment Act dur­ing the coro­n­avirus (COVID-19) pan­dem­ic, with a view to clear­ing their records as well.