Funding hurdle stalling cannabis growing plans

A medicinal cannabis company in Guernsey said it has struggled to secure the £2m investment needed to start work on its new growing and testing facility.

4C Labs already imports and distributes medical-grade cannabis to the island and has held a cannabis cultivation licence since 2021.

James Smith, chief revenue officer, said besides the funding everything was in place to transform a former greenhouse and warehouse site in St Pierre du Bois with laboratory-grade facilities and "some form of public investment" would help.

The Policy and Resources Committee (P&R) has been asked to comment.

Mr Smith said: "We'd like to see some increased tax incentives to set up shop in Guernsey."

He said he like to see taxation on cannabis businesses fall from 20% to 10% in line with most other businesses.

Mr Smith said some interest from the Guernsey Investment Fund - a privately managed collective investment scheme focussed on bailiwick initiatives - would also "help us get going".

Earlier this month one cannabis retailer criticised "a lack of understanding" from politicians about the sector.

Mr Smith said it was the failure of other medicinal cannabis start-ups to launch across the sector that's "scared away investors".

He said the States had been "very supportive" adding he expected work on the growing facility to still begin in spring 2025.

"We would start tomorrow if we could and we continue to look for funding every day," he said.

Former P&R member Deputy Mark Heylar, who worked to develop the policy on cannabis cultivation, said "tax breaks" would be his preferred option.

"Tax has been imposed on cannabis business which could be removed or reduced, but it's really down to the current P&R to make that happen," he said.

He added: "We have done what we can as a government to try and encourage them to invest in the island."

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