SODELPA representative Jone Gonewai is asking the Government on how they will control and regulate the cultivation of medicinal cannabis when they cannot control the current criminal trends we are experiencing in the country.
While speaking during the consultation for the establishment of a medicinal cannabis industry in Fiji held at Epworth Hall in Suva, Gonewai says Fijians tend to take everything to the extreme when any opportunities come their way.
He says this was similar to the e-bay and the pyramid scheme.
Gonewai says given the data from police, in 2021, they seized 29,977 marijuana plants with a maturity value of $540 million from 27 farms in Kadavu.
He says most of these raids are happening in the upper areas of the district of Nakasaleka and Naceva and in February this year, more than 2,700 plants believed to be marijuana were seized from a farm in Kadavu.
The SODELPA representative adds this month, Police operations in the North confiscated $1.7 million worth of marijuana and 3 grams of meth.
He says from 2019 to 2020, police reported an increase of 16% in reported drug-related cases.
