The US territory’s new law permits adults 21 and older to possess and grow cannabis, and it creates a system of licensed and regulated businesses that will produce and sell marijuana.

Guam became the first US jurisdiction to legalize marijuana in 2019 with the signature of Governor Lou Leon Guerrero on Thursday.

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There will be a 15 percent excise tax on sales, with revenues going toward law enforcement, drug treatment, and agriculture programs.


Lawmakers in Guam’s unicameral legislature sent the legislation to Guerrero last week in a narrow vote of 8 to 7.

“I have to answer this one question: Given all the info, studies done, experiences shared, advice [and] anecdotes about marijuana, what would a responsible community government leader do to protect the interests and welfare of the community?” Guerrero said in a press conference announcing her decision on the bill.

“Keeping it illegal in my mind rejects the notion that it exists and that the underground market will continue to prey on us. We have to be ahead of this and we have to control it.”

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, another US territory, legalized marijuana last year, and the US Virgin Islands enacted a medical cannabis law in January.

Guam was the first US territory to allow medical marijuana via a voter-approved ballot measure in 2014, but its implementation moved forward slowly.

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