Will we wait for foreign investors’ interest before we legalise hemp?

Dear Editor,
We talk about creating jobs and having Guyanese who are self-sufficient, yet law enforcement is going around arresting ganja growers with an automatic three years for a nonviolent crime; an 18-year-old was also arrested with a three-year sentence in the same breath.
In an industry that generates over 50,000 jobs globally, we need to wake up, get out of our 1920s mind-set, stop depending on the prospects of oil to be the saviour of an already resource rich country and look to implement regulation or perhaps even the legalisation of hemp and its sister product marijuana. With over dozens of by-products including clothing, paper, beauty products, hemp oil and seeds which are rich in vitamin A and B and omega fatty acids and other versatile textiles such as rope and building materials, we are literally sleeping on a gold mine of “green” materials, which goes hand in hand with our “going green” initiative. Or are we going to wait again for foreign interests and investment within this industry before we consider making a move?
Cannabis and hemp alike have proven medicinal benefits and healing properties when in comparison to alcohol which in many cases is the cause of numerous deaths, murders and accidents due to over consumption. You cannot incarcerate the masses, not provide a plan to create jobs then wonder why the country is in shambles.
Legalising the naturally grown plant would not have any more adverse effects than the over consumption of an 80-proof bottle of rum would have within Guyana.

Sincerely,
Stephanie Persaud