Guam legalised recreational cannabis in 2019. Photo: wollertz 201/ 123rf
A Guam senator wants a temporary pause on recreational cannabis testing requirements, hoping it will remove the roadblocks for a cultivation industry.
"History has shown that the naysayers were wrong and the end of the world was not going to happen when we legalise cannabis." - Guam Senator Will Parkinson
Guam legalised recreational cannabis in 2019, but despite this the US territory has not made a cent off the potential industry.
Under current rules, cannabis needs to be tested in a certified laboratory for safety before it goes to market.
Senator Will Parkinson has introduced a bill that if passed would put a moratorium on testing cannabis.
He said cultivators do not want to grow cannabis because there are no labs available, and labs do not want to open because they could not guarantee demand.
"We have this chicken and egg situation where neither [the growers or the labs] want to go first but it's necessary for one to go first," Parkinson told RNZ Pacific.
"If I had to choose, my thing would be let the cultivators go first and then have the labs come out after because I would rather have a shortage of labs rather than have product rot on the vine."
Parkinson, who describes himself as a "regular smoker" said he does not see there being a safety issue with not testing.
"For years now, cannabis has been unregulated and untested and up to now there are still no cannabis-related fatalities, there was not a wave of cannabis overdoses flooding our hospital."
"History has shown that the naysayers were wrong and the end of the world was not going to happen when we legalise cannabis."
He said the testing requirements are the "last hurdle" for an industry to start.
The opportunity for tax revenue was one of the reasons recreational cannabis was legalised, Parkinson said.
Recreational cannabis is still federally illegal in the US which means it cannot be imported into Guam.
"I'm really trying to get this pushed through locally before any movement on federal legalisation happens because as soon as federal legalisation happens, we can now import cheap cannabis from surplus states," he said.
"I fear that may kill our burgeoning cultivation industry."
He said people are currently growing, gifting or exchanging cannabis.