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Guernsey’s CBD industry was in a good place before the States of Guernsey signed a badly drawn up Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UK Home Office, according to Deputy Marc Leadbeater.
Medicinal cannabis was legalised in Guernsey in 2019. The island until that point had a number of licensees growing CBD product, who then had to re-licence in order to grow and process high level THC cannabis for the medicinal market.
Because Guernsey isn’t a signatory to international conventions on narcotics, to be able to trade THC product internationally it had to have the convention extended to the island, meaning an MoU with the UK would need to be signed.
According to Deputy Leadbeater, it was here that the problems began.
“Licensees were quite happy growing CBD when there was an accepted minimum standard for security,” he said.
“When the MoU was signed the Home Office came along and said ‘no’, eight-foot chain link fence is unacceptable. [The Home Office] tore up the book on all the security measures Guernsey had been working towards.”
He said Guernsey used to differentiate between CBD and THC products and the difference in risk posed between the two.
“The difference with the UK is that they don't differentiate... which made it completely unviable for anybody to continue growing CBD in Guernsey.”
THC is the psychoactive element in cannabis, which isn’t present in CBD products.
Pictured: Deputy Leadbeater.
Deputy Leadbeater argues that the States of Guernsey should’ve invited the industry along to help guide the development of the MoU.
"The MoU was developed in association with Guernsey authorities and the UK, but completely absent of any input from the industry at all.
"If the industry had seen site of the draft they could have raised concerns."
Separate to an MoU not fit for purpose, Deputy Leadbeater said the previous Health and Social Committee included a line of legislation that further "ruined the industry”.
"There's this one little piece of legislation in Guernsey, which is different to Jersey legislation. It means that every time we want to move anything CBD related off iisland, you need an export licence and you need a corresponding import licence from the jurisdiction [you’re exporting to].
"A lot of the jurisdictions it's going to will not issue an import licence because it's not needed.”
Deputy Leadbeater is not only a member of HSC now, but is also a Director of the House of Green, a cannabis company that now sends their product to Jersey to try and get past this awkward piece of legislation.
"Apparently there was one member [in the previous HSC] that insisted on this clause being included in our legislation, which has completely ruined our industry.”
You can listen to the full interview with Deputy Leadbeater below or wherever you get your podcasts:
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