The Attorney General, Ayaz Syed Khayyum, said at the 23rd Conference of the Attorney General in Nadi yesterday that only licensed farmers would be allowed to grow the industrial hemp plant in Fiji.
He said laws would be amended to decriminalize the cultivation of industrial hemp, which contains only one percent THC.
“Industrial cannabis is different from medical cannabis. There is a difference and we don’t get into medical cannabis because it has more THC.
“The current law is that it is illegal, so if we want to go into the cultivation of industrial hemp, it has a very low level of THC, even with a licensing system,” he said.
“The cultivation of industrial hemp can be systematically decriminalized.
“This would be industrial hemp for industrial purposes.” He said Fiji could replicate the industrial hemp laws from Australia.
“Obviously we don’t want to reinvent the wheel, Australia has done well and we can borrow from Australia and tweak it a little bit.”
He said lawyers can play a big role in ensuring that the law is followed in relation to industrial cannabis.
“Once this bill goes into effect, you might have a farmer who might grow or perhaps be licensed to come in and say, Look can you make this request for me.
“You should be aware of how the licensing system works. This is a preview of what could be.”
