Only licensed farmers will be allowed to plant industrial hemp in Fiji, said the Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, yesterday at the 23rd Attorney-General’s Conference in Nadi yesterday.
He said laws would be amended to decriminalise the planting of industrial hemp that will have only one per cent of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
“Industrial hemp is different from medicinal hemp. There is a difference and we are not getting into medicinal hemp as it has more THC.
“The current law is that it is illegal and so if we do want to get into planting industrial hemp, it has a very low-level of THC, even then there is a licensing regime,” he said.
“Decriminalising the planting of industrial hemp can be done in a systematic manner.
“This will be industrial hemp for industrial purposes.” He said Fiji could replicate industrial hemp laws from Australia.
“Obviously we don’t want to reinvent the wheel, Australia has done well and we could borrow from Australia and tweak it slightly.”
He said lawyers could play a huge part in ensuring the law was followed in regards to industrial hemp.
“Once this Bill gets put into effect, you may have a farmer who maybe growing or maybe licensed coming along and say, look can you make this application for me.
“You need to be aware how the licensing regime will work. This is a preview to what could be.”
