Posts

While America Reschedules Cannabis and Opens the Door to Public Markets, Fiji Remains Stuck in the Past

-
Image
By Cannabis Fiji The global conversation around cannabis has changed. Across much of the world, governments, regulators, investors, scientists, and healthcare professionals are increasingly approaching cannabis through the lenses of evidence, economics, medicine, and regulation rather than fear, stigma, and prohibition. Nowhere is this shift more evident than in the United States. In April 2026, the United States Department of Justice issued a final order moving FDA-approved marijuana products and state-licensed medical marijuana products into Schedule III under federal law.[1] While this does not constitute full legalization, it represents a significant departure from decades of federal policy that classified cannabis alongside substances deemed to have no accepted medical use. More importantly, the discussion in America has evolved beyond whether cannabis should exist. The conversation now centers on investment, taxation, medical research, patient access, economic development, regula...
Post a Comment
Read more

Where Is the Data? Why Apted's Cannabis-at-Work Claim Needs Evidence, Not Anecdote

-
Image
By Cannabis Fiji Fact, Opinion, and Public Responsibility In a recent article published by The Fiji Times, employment lawyer Jon Apted stated that marijuana use at or around work is "the most common workplace problem" he encounters in his professional experience.[1] If this statement is intended as a personal observation, there is nothing inherently controversial about it. Professionals are entitled to share their experiences. However, if the statement is being presented as a broader representation of workplace reality in Fiji, then a fundamental question arises: Where is the evidence? The article provides no publicly available survey data, workplace prevalence statistics, industry analysis, government reports, or peer-reviewed research demonstrating that cannabis is the most common workplace problem in Fiji.[1] Without such evidence, the claim remains an anecdotal observation rather than an established fact. What We Know There is legitimate scientific evidence that cannabis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

 Patients Suffer As Outdated Laws Remain 

-
Image
A mother sits beside her child during another seizure. A cancer patient braces for another round of chemotherapy. A family watches someone they love struggle through chronic pain that refuses to go away. These stories are not happening somewhere else. They are happening here. In Fiji. And while these patients continue to suffer, a difficult question is becoming impossible to ignore. If Fiji theoretically can legally cultivate industrial hemp... If cannabis supposedly can be researched, processed, commercialized, and developed into an industry... Why are patients still denied access to medically supervised cannabis treatments? This is not a debate about recreational cannabis. This is a debate about compassion. It is a debate about healthcare. It is a debate about whether people facing serious illness deserve access to every evidence-based treatment that may improve their quality of life. No serious advocate claims medical cannabis is a miracle cure. It does not cure cancer. It does not ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fiji Cannot Keep Calling This Progress While Patients Still Suffer

-
Image
Fiji has taken a limited step forward by creating a legal pathway for industrial hemp cultivation. Yet despite this change, patients suffering from serious medical conditions remain unable to legally access cannabis-based medicines under a regulated medical framework. This contradiction is becoming increasingly difficult to justify. If cannabis can be cultivated, processed, researched, and commercialized for industrial purposes, why does Fiji still deny patients access to medically supervised cannabis treatments that are legally available in many countries around the world? This is not a debate about recreational cannabis. It is a debate about healthcare. It is a debate about whether patients should have access to every evidence-based treatment option that may improve their quality of life. The scientific evidence supporting medical cannabis is strongest in several specific areas. Cannabis-based medicines have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fiji Legalized Hemp Nearly Four Years Ago. Where Are The Results?

-
On 29 July 2022, Fiji's Parliament passed amendments to the Illicit Drugs Control Act that removed low-THC industrial hemp from the category of prohibited cannabis. The law came into force on 1 August 2022 and was presented as an opportunity to create new agricultural industries, attract investment, and diversify Fiji's economy. The legislation created a legal pathway for industrial hemp cultivation, processing, trade, and potential industry development. Nearly four years later, a more important question deserves attention: What measurable results has Fiji achieved since legalization? This is not a question about ideology. It is not a question about recreational cannabis. It is not even primarily a question about hemp. It is a question about policy implementation. Legalization Was Never The End Goal When the legislation passed in 2022, the objective was not simply to change the law. The objective was economic activity. Laws by themselves do not create jobs. Laws do not create e...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fiji Did Not Just Destroy Cannabis. It Destroyed a Conversation About Value.

-
The Fiji Police Force recently announced the destruction of 47,397 cannabis plants in Cakaudrove, estimating their street value at FJD $47.3 million. That number should stop the country in its tracks. Because if the State itself believes this crop carried a value of $47.3 million, then Fiji is no longer dealing with a fringe issue. It is dealing with a national contradiction. On one hand, Fiji speaks constantly about fiscal pressure, development gaps, rising costs, infrastructure needs, healthcare strain, and the search for new revenue. On the other hand, it celebrates the destruction of a crop it says was worth tens of millions. That is not a small inconsistency. It is a policy failure hiding inside a law-and-order headline. This is not an argument for chaos. It is not a call to protect criminal networks. It is a call for adult leadership. A serious country must be able to ask hard questions: What is the real cost of prohibition? How much public money is spent year after year on raids...
Post a Comment
Read more
-
While Fiji continues to enforce strict cannabis prohibition and severe criminal penalties under its Illicit Drugs Control Act, possession, cultivation, or supply of cannabis can still result in heavy fines or long prison terms under national law. Despite decades of advocacy and significant global shifts toward decriminalization, medical access, and regulated markets, Fiji has yet to implement any substantive reform. Cannabis remains classified as an illicit drug, and local legislation allows penalties that may include substantial fines or imprisonment even for personal possession or small-scale cultivation.¹²³ In contrast, on December 18, 2025, United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to reschedule cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act from Schedule I to Schedule III. Schedule I substances are defined as having no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, whereas Schedule III drugs are recognized as having accepted medi...
Post a Comment
Read more