Guam legalised recreational cannabis in 2019.

Senator Will Parkinson wants to introduce a temporary pause on recreational cannabis activity. This was due to the bill he requested to be introduced, which would put a moratorium on testing cannabis.

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.

However, even then cultivators are discouraged due to the belief that there is no guarantee in lab testing since labs, themselves cannot guarantee the market demand.

The senator even says that it almost resembles a ‘chicken and egg situation’; The idea that where neither [the growers or the labs] want to go first but it’s necessary for one to go first.

He says that if it were up to him, 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.

Senator Parkinson, who describes himself as a ‘regular smoker’ does not see the issue of safety due to untested cannabis, stating that for years now, there had not been any cannabis-related fatalities, despite the many decades of unregulated and untested cannabis use.

And to quote, “History has shown that the naysayers were wrong and the end of the world was not going to happen when we legalise cannabis.”

He also stated that the last hurdle for the cannabis industry is testing requirements.

The opportunity for tax revenue was one of the reasons recreational cannabis was legalised, Parkinson said. Recreational cannabis, still federally illegal in the US, means that 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 and hopes that the industry prevails.