'Golden opportunity lost' for medicinal cannabis

Cannabis for medicinal use was legalised in Guernsey in 2021

A "golden opportunity" for Guernsey to become an international centre for medicinal cannabis production has been missed, an industry leader has said.

The growth and cultivation of cannabis for medicinal use was legalised in Guernsey since July 2021, with 13,000 people in Guernsey having received prescriptions in 2023, States figures show.

Paul Smith, founder of the House of Green, a medicinal cannabis business headquartered in Guernsey, said a lack of understanding by the government was among reasons for a lack of growth in the industry on the island.

The BBC has contacted the government for a response.

'World leader'

Mr Smith told BBC Radio Guernsey there was a time where the island could have blossomed into a "world leader" in this field and he felt there was a "golden opportunity" lost.

He said: "Guernsey would have been an excellent base for an international business.

"While that is still possible, when you look at the financials of starting a cannabis farm in the UK or starting one in Guernsey, the costs in the UK are going to be so much less.

"The fact we haven't started already is what puts us at a disadvantage."

He said this had paved the way for cannabis imports from Europe and Canada, while Guernsey could have benefitted from exporting its own products.

Citing a "golden opportunity" in 2019 to "steal a march" on other jurisdictions, he said the "rug was pulled" on this chance with a reduction in the number of licensees since that date.

Among factors, he said, was a "lack of understanding" within local government about the industry.

'Never really understood'

He said industry experts had attempted to "explain" the machinations of the field at the time at "both a political and officer level".

But he said the field was "never really understood properly", with a lack of "good engagement" between the two parties.

He claimed business leaders like himself were also "excluded" from consultation on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the States and the UK.

"It meant the whole process and final MOU that got signed was very detrimental to the Channel Islands and imposed certain restrictions that made the whole thing commercially unviable," he said.