“You know the smell to me of hypocrisy is stronger than the waft of cannabis in the air,” Cannabis Control Board member Adrian Cruz said during Monday’s meeting of the board tasked to roll up Guam’s cannabis industry rules.
The board convened for the first time since the close of the public comment period on the draft 133-page industry rules.
Cruz, the deputy director of the Department of Agriculture, said the Covid-19 pandemic, which halted tourism, reinforced the need to pursue other industries.
“I am not buying it,” Cruz said of GVB’s position. “This pandemic really can show us that we need to diversify…If we don’t evolve, we will perish to our own demise and we have to compete with lots of places in our area with nice beaches and nice things to offer, that are all family-friendly.”
Cruz said one can go down to Tumon and see that it has establishments that don’t match the family-friendly image that GVB is speaking of, such as “strip joints, bars and massage parlors.”
“I applaud (GVB) for sticking to their guns when it comes to cannabis but I don’t hear them complaining about those other businesses. I can guarantee you that taking your clothes off to go into a marijuana establishment is not going to be a selling point as it is for other types of businesses down there. Which is not very family-friendly if you ask me,” Cruz said.
Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center Director Therese Arriola, who is also a member of the GVB board and the Cannabis Control Board, said the visitors bureau wanted its position on record.
Sidewalks in Tumon, Guam that used to be filled with tourists are now empty. Photo by David Castro/ The Guam Daily Post
A marijuana operation is shown in the continental United States. Guam’s Cannabis Control Board is now reviewing all comments and concerns gathered from a series of public hearings on its draft 133-page cannabis industry rules and regulations. Los Angeles Times file photo/ The Guam Daily Post
She said while she agrees with Cruz on the “other industries” down in Tumon, she said GVB was not testifying on those, but only on cannabis.
“Other than that position, there are other considerations and concerns that the board highlighted,” Arriola said of the GVB board.
Cruz said the Cannabis Control Board’s role is to come up with the rules to regulate Guam’s cannabis industry so Guam doesn’t become “the Wild West.”
Cruz and the rest of the Cannabis Control Board, led by Chairwoman Vanessa Williams, are now reviewing and weighing the written and oral comments and concerns on the bill.
They include a proposed vertical integration, advertising, labeling and security at cultivation sites.
Public input is a key component before the cannabis rules and regulations become final, and before any cannabis selling, buying or trading is allowed on Guam.
GVB is one of those that issued a formal comment on the draft cannabis industry rules.
“With Guam branded as a family-friendly destination and over 21,000 jobs supported by tourism, it is crucial that the rules and regulations for a new cannabis industry do not allow for this international image to be doubted,” GVB Chairman P. Sonny Ada wrote.
He stated that while adult use cannabis industries produced economic benefits for some states, this may not be the case for Guam because of cultural differences and sensitivity in its visitor base.
Guam’s main tourism markets, Japan and Korea, are very conservative about the use of cannabis and promote harsh penalties to its citizens, he said.
In this regard, according to Ada, GVB supports prohibiting the consumption of cannabis products in public places, most especially those frequented by our visitors.
“GVB is also opposed to the advertising and sales of cannabis in the Tumon tourist district. From beaches, parks, sidewalks, bus stops and even hotel rooms, we need to ensure that our visitors and local families are not exposed in any way to unwanted cannabis effects that may disturb their experience of our island destination,” Ada wrote.
GVB addressed its comment to Speaker Tina Muna Barnes and the rest of the Legislature, but the Cannabis Control Board is reviewing the bureau’s statement.
Cruz said GVB’s comments reminded him of the days when the public was commenting on the bill seeking to legalize adult cannabis use.
One of those comments, he said, was the “gloom and doom predictions” of what’s going to happen the day after adult cannabis use is legalized.
“That the next day, nobody in GovGuam is gonna show up to work because everybody was gonna be stoned, that the entire island would come to a screeching halt and that you would smell cannabis all the way to Saipan probably. Obviously, all of us remembered that the next day after that law was passed, Guam is still the same. Nothing extraordinary happened. And I think this is kind of the same thing,” Cruz said.
Individuals 21 years and older can use cannabis and grow up to six plants at home. It is also legal to possess up to 1 ounce of dried cannabis flower in public.
Guam legalized the adult recreational use of marijuana in April 2019. While it went into effect immediately, commercial manufacturing and sales have been on hold until regulations are finalized to manage the new industry.
