Bank of Guam announced in a press release on Wednesday that the launch of “Cannabis Banking” will give it a “platform [to allow] cannabis clients the ability to share data from their day-to-day business activities, such as sales, inventory and required licensing documentation.” 

According to The Guam Daily Post, “Cannabis Banking” will make the institution the first in the region “to serve ‘all tiers’ of cannabis-related businesses, or CRBs.”

“It has always been the mission of our founder to serve the underserved and to provide access to safe and secure banking services to our communities. This now includes our cannabis-related businesses. As your partner in growth, we are committed to extending our expertise as trusted financial advisers to this new industry and to allow our local cannabis-related businesses who follow the process and play by the rules, a fair chance to succeed,” Bank of Guam President and CEO Joaquin L.G. Cook said in the press release, as quoted by the Guam Daily Post.

Per the outlet, Bank of Guam will begin this month to “offer deposit and lending services to CRBs in Guam and Saipan legally licensed to engage.” Those CRBs are “organizations or businesses that grow, process, dispense, administer or derive income from selling marijuana products,” according to the Daily Post, which offered the following breakdown of the qualifying businesses:

“(Tier 1) Direct Cannabis-Related Businesses: Businesses licensed to touch the plant directly. Types of direct CRBs include adult use/medical use, retail, processing, cultivation, dispensaries, seed producers, testing, delivery and consumption lounges. (Tier 2) Indirect Cannabis-Related Businesses: Includes industry-specific professional services. Types of indirect CRBs include operations support such as attorneys and accountants, landlords, hydroponic suppliers, packaging suppliers, delivery device suppliers, security firms, cannabis consultants, marijuana testing facilities, employment/payroll providers and cannabis software providers. (Tier 3) Hemp-Related Businesses: Businesses licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture or state regulatory agency to grow, test, or otherwise prepare hemp. (Tier 3) Cannabidiol Businesses: Businesses engaged in the production or sale of hemp-derived cannabinoids intended for human or animal consumption, as regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.”

Guam legalized recreational cannabis in 2019 with the “Guam Cannabis Industries Act,” which, per NORML, “legalizes the personal possession of marijuana by adults, and establishes regulations governing the plant’s commercial production and retail sale.” 

NORML continued: “The law permits those age 21 or older to legally possess and transfer up to one ounce of marijuana flower and/or eight grams of concentrated cannabis. The measure, which took immediate effect, also permits adults to privately cultivate up to six cannabis plants (no more than three mature) in an ‘enclosed, locked space.’ Public consumption of cannabis will remain a violation of law. The Act creates a new regulatory board to draft rules governing the plant’s commercial production and retail sale. The board has a one-year timeline to adopt rules necessary to permit for the operation of licensed cannabis establishments.”

Guam’s regulated cannabis market has been slow to take shape, however. In 2022, it was reported that no one had applied for a cannabis retail license yet. 

According to the Guam Daily Post, the “cannabis industry has yet to take off on Guam as there have been various roadblocks, including permitting issues that have affected at least one potential cultivator.”

The outlet said that Guam is still awaiting clearance on a crucial testing laboratory. 

“A testing laboratory is integral to developing a commercial cannabis industry on Guam. No cannabis or cannabis products can be sold without being tested for potency and safety. Essentially, without a testing laboratory, there can be no industry on the island under the current regulations,” the outlet explained.

In 2021, Guam’s governor, Lou Leon Guerrero, said that the territory had reached an agreement with a U.S.-based company called Metrc to oversee the cannabis regulatory systems. Guerrero’s office said at the time that Metrc’s “system combines advanced software, radio-frequency identification (RFID), a dedicated customer support team, and a secure database to track cannabis from growth, harvest and processing, to testing, transport, and sale,” and that the company “holds exclusive government contracts in various areas of the United States, including Alaska, California, and Washington, D.C.”

“Over the last decade, we have seen substantial evidence that cannabis has medicinal benefits. With the final review by our Cannabis Control Board on the rules and regulations for the industry, we can more efficiently control recreational use and ensure safe and regulated products,” Guerrero said at the time. “The cannabis industry will benefit our community by funding expanded public services in health and public safety, and providing alternative treatment and rehabilitation for people who need it.” 

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A man swallowed over 110 grams of hash in a desperate attempt to avoid drug charges on the island of Bermuda in the Caribbean, but police simply waited for the hash to come out of the other end while he was taken to a nearby hospital for drug tests. Police counted a total of 53 “pellets” of hash that went entirely through his body. It’s a lesson learned that other vacationers should be aware of when planning a trip to any of the 181 islands of Bermuda.

The Royal Gazette reports that Kenneth Butterfield, 45, admitted importing the controlled drug into Bermuda when he appeared in Magistrates’ Court yesterday. The man originally faced charges of possession with intent to supply but that charge was dropped.

Butterfield said in court that he returned to the island from the U.K. on Feb. 16, 2023 and was arrested after refusing to be X-rayed by customs officials at L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda.

Butterfield was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital to undergo a drug test to see if cannabis was in his system. While there, he passed 44 pellets and secreted an additional eight the next evening. They were found to be 110.76 grams of hash, called “cannabis resin” in the country.

Cindy Clarke, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the going street value of the hash was high, and it would sell for more than $11,000 on Bermuda’s streets if sold by the ounce, more than $22,000 by the gram and more than $12,000 by the quarter-ounce. (A Bermuda dollar is equivalent to a U.S. dollar.) 

Magistrate Maria Sofianos ordered that reports be completed for Butterfield, who has previous convictions for similar offenses, and adjourned the case to March 28, 2024 for the man’s sentencing.

Butterfield will be sentenced next month, and he was ordered to surrender all travel documents and was released on $25,000 bail with one surety until that time.

Another man was arrested bringing cannabis “resin” aka hash onto the island in 2022. 

Tahva Virgil, 28, appeared in court in May 2023 and denied bringing hash and another substance containing THC into the island in February 2022. Prosecutor Taneka King said the hash had an estimated value of between $42,000 and $56,000. Senior magistrate Maxanne Anderson adjourned the case to a later date and released Mr Virgil on $25,000 bail.

Amounts of cannabis over 7 grams in the country often lead to jail time.

“Even if a person is caught with 7 grams or less of cannabis, that person’s residence, vessel or vehicle may be subject to search, if the police suspect other offences, such as possession with an intent to supply, or other criminal offences,” Bermuda’s Public Awareness Fact Sheet states about cannabis-related convictions. “It is still illegal to use, sell (supply), handle, or import cannabis and a person may be prosecuted for such offences.”

“If a person is caught with more than 7 grams of cannabis, that person may be arrested and prosecuted, resulting in a criminal conviction,” it reads.

Since Butterfield’s case involves over 100 grams, the charges most likely multiply.

Bermuda’s Struggle to Legalize Pot 

The island has attempted to legalize adult-use cannabis, but recent attempts failed, partly due to the fact that the nation is a British territory.

In September 2022, the U.K. prevented Bermuda from following through with its 2022 cannabis legalization bill, thwarting legalization in the island country.

The Royal Gazette reported that on Sept. 6, 2022, Bermuda Governor and Commander-in-Chief Rena Lalgie was “instructed” by United Kingdom Foreign Secretary to refuse to give royal assent to the Cannabis Licensing Bill. “The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs concluded that the Bill, as currently drafted, is not consistent with obligations held by the UK and Bermuda under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances. I have informed the Premier and relayed the UK’s continued desire to work with Bermuda on reforms within the scope of our existing international obligations,” Lalgie said.

Media reports that the denial of approval for Bermuda’s bill caused tension in relations between the U.K. and Bermuda.

In 1984, Paul McCartney and his wife Linda were busted in Bermuda after authorities found weed in a film canister, but he was fined just $100.

Last October, entrepreneurs Kim Caisey and Rickai Robinson launched the Bermuda Cannabis Association (BCA), the island’s first self-regulatory organization designed for the cannabis industry. They said the for-profit BCA’s mission is to foster a professional, responsible, and ethical cannabis industry in Bermuda.

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Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez last week released a new plan to legalize adult-use cannabis that one lawmaker characterized as the state’s best effort so far. Under the plan, the state would allow for the production and sale of recreational cannabis while protecting the state’s existing industry for medical marijuana. 

Hawaii legalized medical marijuana in 2000, although the state did not license medicinal cannabis dispensaries until 2018. Earlier this year, the Hawaii Senate passed a bill to legalize recreational cannabis, but the bill failed to gain the support of the state House of Representatives.

State lawmakers who have seen the attorney general’s new proposal for adult-use cannabis legalization say that she has produced a comprehensive plan that addresses the shortcomings of previous efforts at marijuana policy reform.

“The attorney general has done a really good job pulling together all of the different input and providing a comprehensive bill,” said David Tarnas, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, according to a report from Hawaii News Now.

The attorney general’s 294-page cannabis legalization proposal establishes a 4.25% excise tax on adult-use marijuana plus a 10% tax surcharge. Tax revenues would be directed to enhancing law enforcement resources and education programs to protect young people.

State Senator Jarrett Keohokalole, the chair of the Consumer Protection Committee, said that the plan is “the best version to date. And part of it is the efforts to try and address a lot of the issues that came up along the way.”

Proposal Modeled After Massachusetts’ Legalization Plan

Lopez’s plan is similar to Massachusetts’ marijuana legalization model and includes a social equity program to address the harms caused by years of cannabis prohibition. The social equity program, which includes grants and support programs for illegal growers to help them adapt to the regulated industry, is designed to help the current illicit industry have a chance to participate in the legal market. 

“The most important thing we can do is we can bring the people who have been growing and selling marijuana illegally into the legal market,” Lopez said.

The cannabis legalization plan establishes a 14-member law enforcement unit to help ensure compliance with the state’s cannabis legalization laws.

“It’s going to be a concerted investigative process to ensure that the law is followed,” Lopez said.

Under Lopez’s plan, the cannabis industry would be regulated by the Hawaii Cannabis Authority. The new agency would be tasked with enforcing regulations, establishing a lab testing program to ensure the safety of cannabis products and implementing social equity and health education programs.

To support medical cannabis patients and the existing medical marijuana industry, the 10% cannabis tax surcharge will not apply to medical marijuana purchases. Retail sales of adult-use cannabis will likely begin at medical dispensaries because they have already completed the state’s licensing process.

“They’re already standing up, they’re already growing, they are already prepared to go to market,” said Lopez. 

Under Lopez’s plan, retail sales of adult-use cannabis would begin 18 months after the proposal becomes law. Lawmakers said the delay is reasonable and necessary to effectively implement the program. Keaohokalole said that he hopes the plan can be introduced and approved during the upcoming legislative session, which begins in January. Tarnas, however, said he was not sure that timeline would be feasible because the legislature will be busy with issues related to responding to this year’s wildfires on Maui and state budget negotiations.

Hawaii lawmakers attempted to legalize adult-use cannabis earlier this year with a bill that was approved by the state Senate in March. Had it passed, Senate Bill 669 would have legalized marijuana for adults 21 and established a regulated market for licensed sales of adult-use cannabis. The state House of Representatives, however, declined to approve the legislation.

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In the Mediterranean island of Malta, one man who was caught with cannabis 15 years ago and recently saw his case come to an end.

In June 2008, Conray Azzopardi’s apartment was raided by local police. According to Times Malta, he attempted to escape, and dropped “a bag containing cannabis wrapped in individual packets.” Police also found €250 (or approximately US$264). Azzopardi was charged for possession with the intent to traffic drugs.

According to a translated court document published on December 28, 2018, which covered the extent of Azzopardi’s case, ending with a conclusion from Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras sentencing Azzopardi to one year in prison and a fine of €1,000 (USD$1,096).

However, Azzopardi and his legal counsel appealed the decision, and five years later both the Malta Drug Offenders Rehabilitation Board and Caritas Malta (an organization that supports inmates who are imprisoned for crimes related to addiction) made recommendations in support of Azzopardi following the conclusion of his rehabilitation program.

The Drug Offenders Rehabilitation Board closed his case after he successfully completed his care plan. Azzopardi sought to apply for medical cannabis to treat undisclosed conditions but was rejected. The board added that if an individual receives treatment from a detox or rehabilitation center, they are no longer eligible for medical cannabis. Ultimately it recommended that Azzopardi be given assistance so that he wouldn’t resort to consuming illegal substances.

Appeals court Judge Neville Camilleri reviewed the recommendations of the Drug Offenders Rehabilitation Board and Caritas Malta and ruled that Azzopardi’s one-year prison sentence be overturned, and that, instead, he undergo a two-year probation order.

Medical cannabis has been legal in Malta since March 2018, and it became the first country in the European Union to legalize recreational cannabis in October 2021.

Azzopardi’s legal defense counsel included lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb. In November 2022, Debono posted about the state of cannabis on Facebook, noting the lack of progress for cannabis sales. “As far as I know, there aren’t any legal outlets from where one buy cannabis, which would mean that Malta is the only country in the world where you can possess cannabis but cannot purchase it legally,” Debono wrote. “I hope the government understands the gravity and the ugliness of this situation and how much responsibility should be shouldered.”

The Maltese Cannabis Authority released the details of opening a cannabis club in February 2023, and began accepting applications as of February 28, according to El Planteo.

In May 2023, Malta Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms Rebecca Buttigieg and leader of the Malta Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis (ARUC) spoke at a press conference covering new rules regarding non-profit associations who want to obtain a cultivation or distribution license for non-medical purposes.

However, cannabis business owner Andrew Bonello, who is president of ReLeaf Malta, told Business of Cannabis that ATUC is treating “cannabis like plutonium” and that more action is necessary to get the ball rolling.

“While it is positive to see totally unnecessary costs being reviewed, the overall effectiveness of the ‘fine-tuned’ regulations is yet to be seen,” Bonello said. “Many of the grassroots community and legacy growers are still finding it next to impossible to be able to set up an Association. One wonders how the aims of tackling the illicit market and implementing social justice can be achieved when the needs of those who fought for this reform are being ignored.”

As of May, there were only seven associations that had submitted applications, and 11 that had reserved the association name. Bonello stated that he expected more associations to have submitted applications and would already be operating by now. “However, we augur that the core principles of the reform are respected, acting in the best interest of the community with efforts genuinely focused on addressing social justice and human rights,” Bonello said.

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The newly established recreational cannabis industry in Guam is taking shape, slowly but surely.

Pacific Daily News reported this week that government regulators in the United States territory have approved 11 so-called “responsible officials” to participate in the recreational pot market, but the Department of Revenue and Taxation says that “no one has taken the next step of applying for a cannabis establishment license.” 

Earning that designation is a crucial step toward landing a license, however.

Jeff Wells, the chief executive officer of Metrc—the seed-to-sale tracking system Guam is using—said last year that the company was “excited to rise to the challenge of this unique regulatory opportunity.”

“Metrc is thrilled to partner with the Department of Public Health and Social Services as Guam builds its medical marijuana market. We look forward to working with both regulators and licensed business owners to implement the island’s first regulatory track-and-trace program. We are proud to play a leading role in ensuring the safety and security of the nation’s legal cannabis market,” Wells said at the time.

Guam legalized recreational cannabis back in 2019 with the Guam Cannabis Industries Act.

The measure “legalizes the personal possession of marijuana by adults, and establishes regulations governing the plant’s commercial production and retail sale,” according to NORML.

“The law permits those age 21 or older to legally possess and transfer up to one ounce of marijuana flower and/or eight grams of concentrated cannabis. The measure, which took immediate effect, also permits adults to privately cultivate up to six cannabis plants (no more than three mature) in an ‘enclosed, locked space.’ Public consumption of cannabis will remain a violation of law,” NORML explained after the measure was approved. “The Act creates a new regulatory board to draft rules governing the plant’s commercial production and retail sale. The board has a one-year timeline to adopt rules necessary to permit for the operation of licensed cannabis establishments.”

Guam’s Cannabis Control Board gave the greenlight to two more “responsible officials” on Monday, according to Pacific Daily News. The regulator had already given the go-ahead to nine other individuals who earned the designation. 

Those individuals were “briefed about the next steps during a Nov. 17 meeting and were given the application forms required to open a cannabis establishment,” Pacific Daily News reported.

“They have it, they’re working on their packet, but none of them actually submitted to the office for review or consideration at this time,” Craig Camacho, a compliance supervisor for the Department of Revenue and Taxation, told the Cannabis Control Board, as quoted by Pacific Daily News.

Guam’s governor, Lou Leon Guerrero, announced late last year that the island had “executed a contract with Metrc, an experienced provider of cannabis regulatory systems in the United States.”

“Over the last decade, we have seen substantial evidence that cannabis has medicinal benefits. With the final review by our Cannabis Control Board on the rules and regulations for the industry, we can more efficiently control recreational use and ensure safe and regulated products,” Guerrero said in a statement at the time. “The cannabis industry will benefit our community by funding expanded public services in health and public safety, and providing alternative treatment and rehabilitation for people who need it.” 

Guam lieutenant governor Josh Tenorio said that as “an island territory and tourism hotspot, Guam’s cannabis market faces unique challenges when it comes to regulation and oversight.”

“We are excited for this historic partnership between DPHSS and Metrc, which will assist our government in executing the secure and responsible implementation of our cannabis industry on Guam, and further provide us with the tools we need to ensure our success,” Tenorio said.

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A pro cannabis trade group in Puerto Rico is hoping to advance the discussion of full recreational cannabis reform on the island. To this end, they have just released a report which predicts how recreational cannabis legalization might benefit the U.S. territory, located just southeast of Cuba. According to the analysis, the maturation of the industry here would take about five years and would take a trajectory seen in the development of the casino vertical, which developed here in the early decades of the twentieth century.

The island is not the only jurisdiction to consider this kind of economic development, particularly post-Pandemic. Nor is it the only popular tourist destination. This segment of the economy is, however, critically important to the island’s economy and has become increasingly so during the second decade of this century. It currently accounts for 10% of the total economy. Indeed, before COVID, much of the critical infrastructure was damaged thanks to Hurricane Maria and tourism was used to rebuild the island.

Beyond this, the island is no stranger to the production of other recreational commodities. This includes the world’s largest rum distillery, the Bacardi factory, located in Cataño. It is also increasingly a crypto firm haven. Because of Donald Trump, 98% of the land on the island is currently considered an “opportunity zone” designed specifically to bring foreign investors here.

Cannabis Reform in Puerto Rico

Cannabis has been illegal in Puerto Rico since 1932 when Act 12 specifically outlawed the same. Penalties for planting, importation, purchase, and sale of the plant ranged from a one month to one year in jail.

In 2013, right after the success of two American state referendums in Colorado and Washington State, Representative José Luis Báez proposed decriminalization. The Governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, signed medical cannabis reform two years later.

This reform includes allowing patients to have a 30-day supply of the drug, but not in smokeable form. Home grow remains illegal, and patients must purchase their meds through state-licensed dispensaries. There are an estimated 115,000 Puerto Rican patients.

The Legal Status of The Island

Puerto Rico is today an unincorporated U.S. territory. It is not a state. How U.S. federal law is interpreted here is also a hotly contested topic. According to what some consider highly racist decisions enshrined in Supreme Court case law and handed down in the early part of the last century, the island, along with the Philippines and Guam, are places where constitutional rights enjoyed within the continental U.S. and incorporated territories do not apply. Indeed, according to these legal precedents, the U.S. Constitution applies within the United States proper, the District of Columbia and “incorporated territories” while only the “fundamental limitations” apply in unincorporated ones.

What this means when it comes to things like the constitutional rights of states (see the earliest cannabis reform at the state level as a constitutional amendment at this level), cannabis is certainly in a very strange gray zone.

Displacement of Locals?

One of the tragic impacts of the last hurricane was that in its aftermath, residents were often forced to sell their homes and for a variety of reasons. This has led to investment banks buying large tracts of distressed real estate here over the past several years and locals being unable to afford to live here (or at least own property and sustain a decent standard of living). This has also led to local protests against foreign development, including the privatization of public resources, like beaches.

The development of a cannabis industry in this kind of environment may well prove profitable for foreign firms. How it would benefit the local population in terms of sustainable economic redevelopment is another matter.

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