Hemp Today
“To plant hemp, you have to have a license, and to have this license, the government has to put together a licensing board, which is in process,” Cort Gomes, Secretary of the Guyana Hemp Association (GHA) told the Demerara Waves website.
More than two years after Guyana passed the country’s Industrial Hemp Act, the government still has not appointed a licensing authority, holding up widespread commercialization.
Stakeholders are awaiting the establishment of an Industrial Hemp Regulatory Authority (IHRA) to handle permits, issue regulations, and set cultivation quotas.
“To plant hemp, you have to have a license, and to have this license, the government has to put together a licensing board, which is in process,” Cort Gomes, Secretary of the Guyana Hemp Association (GHA) told the Demerara Waves website.
Remaining optimistic
Despite the delays, Gomes said he remains “very optimistic” that the board will be appointed soon, although he urged caution: “What we don’t want is for the government to rush or the sector to rush or for us all to rush into this and it’s done wrong and then we’ll have a failing hemp industry,” he said.
Guyana’s 2022 Industrial Hemp Act decriminalized hemp cultivation under a dividing line between hemp and marijuana at 0.3% THC, and set a relatively strict basic framework. The legislation empowers authorities to search producers’ premises and seize property if they are suspected of growing without a permit. Unlicensed hemp operators could be fined up to $500,000 and receive one-year prison sentences. Also, IHRA is required to collaborate with the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) in the monitoring of production.
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