More than one year after Guyana passed the Industrial Hemp Act, players in the infant sector are hopeful that a licensing board would soon be appointed to regulate the industry and make way for large-scale commercial cultivation.
The Industrial Hemp Bill was approved by the National Assembly on August 8, 2022 and signed into law on September 11, 2022.
High-level government officials did not immediately respond to questions about when the Board would be appointed.
Amid concerns in some quarters that hemp cultivations could be used as a cover for growing marijuana, Guyana Hemp Association (GHA) Secretary, Cort Gomes said his association had recommended that 60 to 80 percent of the licence fee is provided to the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) to fund their operations in the hemp sector. "They can use that fee to come and do whatever inspection at any given time, at their leisure, to make sure you say it is what you say it is so that's one sure way we want to deter planters from going down that route," he said.
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