GREAT BAY, St. Maarten – Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Melissa Gumbs has pushed back against the argument that St. Maarten is “not ready” to address cannabis legislation, saying the country has already been living with cannabis use, youth exposure and an unregulated industry for decades while government continues to absorb the social consequences.
Speaking during the 2026 budget debate, Gumbs said the discussion too often starts from the premise that St. Maarten still has the option of deciding whether cannabis should become part of society. In her view, that moment has long passed.
“The reality to me is that we’re having a chicken and egg conversation while not admitting that the egg has hatched,” Gumbs told Parliament.
She said difficult subjects are frequently met with discomfort, panic or calls for delay, while St. Maarten simultaneously becomes comfortable existing in gray areas where legislation and regulation are absent.
Gumbs said she understands concerns surrounding cannabis legislation, but the repeated argument that the country is “not ready” reminded her of resistance she encountered when raising another controversial subject, comprehensive sexuality education beginning at the primary-school level.
At the time, she recalled hearing arguments that children were too young and accusations that government would effectively be teaching children how to have sex. However, information later presented to Parliament in 2022 by the AIDS Foundation showed, according to Gumbs, that children as young as 11 were already engaging in sexual activity and some did not understand that what they were doing was inappropriate for their age.
She said the lesson from that experience is that refusing to address a difficult subject does not stop the behavior from occurring.
Gumbs applied the same reasoning to cannabis, saying its presence in St. Maarten is not new and its potential positive and negative consequences already exist.
The minister also disclosed that ECYS was initially not part of the government workgroup dealing with cannabis. She said she found that unusual because education and youth development would inevitably be affected by any cannabis policy.
After assuming office, Gumbs said she discussed the matter with the Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication and requested that ECYS be added to the workgroup. That was subsequently done.
She said the ministry’s involvement ensures that the concerns of educators, both formal and informal, are considered throughout the development of the proposed framework.
For Gumbs, regulation should also come with a financial responsibility for industries that create social risks.
She argued that controversial industries should contribute toward dealing with the consequences associated with their activities rather than leaving taxpayers, government and social organizations to carry those costs alone.
“The time has come for controversial industries to begin paying for the risks they bring and the damage they can have,” she said.
Gumbs described the principle more pointedly by saying “the sin, so to speak, must pay for the sinner.”
She used gambling as another example, noting that casinos, lotteries and unregulated gaming machines in smaller establishments have been present in St. Maarten for decades.
Despite the money generated through gambling, Gumbs questioned how much has been directed specifically toward preventing and treating gambling addiction.
She said St. Maarten has seen people, including prominent members of the community, suffer major financial consequences because of gambling and become unable to make responsible decisions about their financial futures.
Gumbs said sectors that generate significant revenue while also producing identifiable social risks should contribute directly to programs intended to reduce those risks.
Through ECYS, she said she intends to examine mechanisms through which funding generated from such industries can also support areas including culture and sports.
The minister said the cannabis discussion becomes even more urgent when viewed through what schools are already experiencing.
Gumbs said she receives messages from teachers at Milton Peters College “almost every other week” concerning students arriving at school under the influence.
She also referred to direct discussions with management at the vocational school, where she said students, some as young as 14, have reportedly arrived at school at 7:30 in the morning already high.
She stressed that marijuana is not always the substance involved, but said the reports illustrate a wider problem involving young people and substance use.
For Gumbs, those realities make funding for prevention, treatment and education necessary.
She pointed to organizations such as Turning Point and the Eugenia Center, which have spent years trying to secure sufficient resources to maintain and expand programs for persons struggling with addiction and other behavioral challenges.
Gumbs acknowledged that calls are often made for government to simply find additional money for these programs, but she said the broader economic reality cannot be ignored.
St. Maarten has, she argued, simultaneously had an unregulated cannabis industry with significant financial strength, government searching for additional and diversified revenue streams, and social organizations struggling for money to address addiction and related problems.
Yet the cannabis sector, she said, has contributed no structured revenue to government and no dedicated funding toward the social programs dealing with the consequences of substance abuse.
According to information shared with the Council of Ministers, the developing cannabis framework includes the establishment of an annual US $750,000 fund specifically for education and measures aimed at preventing and addressing cannabis abuse and misuse.
Gumbs said that type of mechanism reflects the principle she supports: if an industry creates revenue and carries social risks, part of that revenue should be directed toward education, prevention and mitigating potential harm.
The minister also addressed claims that local farmers have not been sufficiently included in the cannabis policy process.
Based on information provided by the ECYS representative on the workgroup, Gumbs said local farmers have participated in meetings, raised concerns and submitted suggestions that have been incorporated into planning for the framework.
She said she was therefore uncertain about suggestions that local farmers were being excluded.
Gumbs further explained that the workgroup has developed a phased community engagement plan intended to involve a broad cross-section of society.
Those consultations are expected to include families, religious organizations, educational institutions, private businesses and relevant ECYS divisions, including Student Support Services.
Her position is that cannabis policy cannot be developed exclusively as an economic or commercial matter. Education, youth development, prevention and community impact must also form part of the framework.
Gumbs ultimately rejected the idea that maintaining the current situation amounts to caution.
For her, St. Maarten is already dealing with cannabis use, youth substance exposure and the financial burden of prevention and treatment. The question is therefore no longer whether the country is ready to acknowledge cannabis, but whether it will continue allowing an existing industry to operate without regulation, dedicated social contributions or a structured response to its consequences.
“We cannot continue keeping our head in the sand on these difficult topics,” Gumbs said.
