Guyana must move to a marijuana Industry

Mar 05, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
On February, 28 it was announced that the world’s largest Marijuana Company has signaled its intention to be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Also more than thirty-three states in the USA have legalized Marijuana either for medical and or recreational use. Uraguay, North Korea and other countries have fully legalized Marijuana.
What these states and countries have in common are strong and growing economies because of the revenue being collected from taxes and trade. It is also important to note that the Netherlands, which was one of the first to legalize Marijuana, has a lesser crime rate than most countries in the world, to the point where it is actually closing some of its prisons.
If Guyana wants to find a viable alternative to the sugar crisis why not invest in Marijuana as an agricultural, research and product manufacturing economy? We have the land and the agricultural know how to transition to this crop very easily and its return on investment will be much higher than rice and sugar combined.
The Marijuana industry has generated US$ 6.7 Billion in revenue in North America in 2016 and projected to grow to US$20 Billion by 2021. In Colorado alone, the industry generated US$1 Billion in sales in 2015 and the state collected US$150 Million in taxes and fees.
All this in just a few years while countries like Guyana are doing the opposite by spending taxpayers’ money to send people to prison while other countries are using those people to grow their economies.
Any Government that does not reform the Marijuana laws is doing an injustice to its citizens and I am surprised that we have not yet table a bill to reform our laws to pave the way for a Marijuana industry.
We should be thinking of ways to replace the sugar cane fields with Marijuana plants and setting up research facilities and factories to produce all the countless products that come from marijuana that includes medicines, clothes, cosmetics and other industrial products.
We should be setting up Marijuana resorts for tourism like the Netherlands and differentiate ourselves as an organic producer of quality weed.
Once again we are not taking the opportunity to seize a moment to diversify our income streams for the country; instead we are all focused on Exxon and the 1% oil contract.
We must open our eyes and see that most if not all countries of colored people, with the exception of some Middle Eastern states, have not seen much prosperity from oil.
The list is long ranging from Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Angola and others.
Let’s not depend solely on our politicians to bring you economic liberation because you will be waiting for a very, very long time. We must start thinking of our country as our own and demand a better future.
Malcolm Watkins

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