Guam legalizes adult and recreational use of cannabis

It took less than a week for the governor of Guam—a South Pacific island located in Micronesia but under U.S. jurisdiction—to sign the bill legalizing adult recreational cannabis use. The bill had been passed by the local legislature recently and was signed by the governor yesterday. This signature turns the bill into law and makes Guam the first jurisdiction to legalize cannabis in 2019.

Legalization and the Issues Surrounding It

The Guam Cannabis Industry Act of 2019 provides that adults over the age of 21 have the right to possess, consume, cultivate, and purchase certain quantities of cannabis from licensed retailers. Cannabis sales will be subject to a 15% excise tax, the revenue from which will be used to fund law enforcement, addiction treatment, and agricultural programs.

However, the text has not been universally accepted: the Guam Daily Post, On March 23, a local newspaper published an open letter from a resident opposing legalization. She highlights the already high rate of use on the island, particularly among young people: «According to the 2015 Guam State Epidemiological Survey, half of high school students have already tried cannabis, and nearly one-third had used it in the 30 days leading up to the survey.» «Children don’t need another temptation,» writes Diane Iglesias. She further argues that the legalization of recreational cannabis is driven by greed and prioritizes the $5.4 million in potential tax revenue over the safety of the island’s residents. She also believes it harms the island’s image as a family-friendly tourist destination.

At this time, there is no scientific evidence to prove that legalization leads to an increase in use among young people. On the contrary, studies on this topic tend to show that Legalization does not increase drug use among minors or even lower it.

For her part, the governor stated: «Keeping it [cannabis] illegal, in my view, means rejecting the very notion of its existence and leaving us at the mercy of the black market. We need to stay one step ahead and we need to regulate it.» For some senators, the legalization of recreational cannabis was also a way to ensure better access to medical cannabis for patients. The medical cannabis program (legalized in 2014) still faces delays and shortcomings.

Guam has become the fourth U.S. Commonwealth territory to have recently legalized cannabis in one form or another. Northern Mariana Islands Neighboring states legalized medical and recreational cannabis all at once last September. The Vanuatu Archipelago, another Commonwealth territory, legalized medical cannabis last October. Well, more recently, the Virgin Islands, a US territory in the Caribbean, legalized medical cannabis in January.