Dominica’s leading psychiatrist Dr. Nadia Wallace urges the Caribbean to raise the legal age for alcohol and cannabis, mirroring Trinidad and Tobago’s 2026 legislation that lifts the minimum age for alcohol and tobacco to 21 and cannabis to 25.
Trinidad and Tobago’s new law sets strict age thresholds
The Miscellaneous Provisions (Alcohol, Cannabis, Dangerous Drugs, Gambling and Tobacco) Bill, 2026, passed Parliament last week, raising the minimum age for purchasing and consuming alcohol and tobacco from 18 to 21 and setting the minimum age for cannabis at 25.
Individuals under 25 now face bans on joining registered clubs, gambling on club premises, and participating in most gambling activities, with violations punishable by fines up to TT$50,000, roughly US$8,000.
Wallace says region must act
Dr. Wallace, a consultant psychiatrist at Dominica’s Acute Psychiatric Unit, praised the Trinidad and Tobago move as commendable and demanded similar action across the Caribbean.
“Recently, we heard in the news that Trinidad has moved to increasing the age at which persons are allowed to smoke and drink. I think this is something that Dominica and the other countries in the region should look into doing,” she stated.
She warned that alcohol, like cannabis, possesses psychoactive properties that can trigger psychosis and other mental health disorders.
“It’s not just marijuana. Alcohol also has a psychoactive component, and it can also lead to, and contribute to, persons having psychosis,” Wallace said.
Wallace urged Dominica to consider raising its cannabis consumption age to between 23 and 25, noting that the brain continues developing until the mid‑twenties.
“If we could move in that direction and increase it to at least 23 to 25, that’s when the brain would have enough time to develop,” she explained.
Delaying cannabis use, she added, would reduce vulnerability to tetrahydrocannabinol’s effects.
“When persons smoke marijuana after the brain has matured, it will be less vulnerable to the effects of THC,” Wallace said. “I think we really need to look in that direction.”
