Guam legalises adult use of cannabis

Guam legalised cannabis for adults aged twenty-one and over on 4 April 2019. People could possess limited amounts, give cannabis to another adult without payment and grow plants for themselves. Governor Lou Leon Guerrero signed the law with immediate effect, while regulated businesses still needed rules, licences and operating permits.

Adults received clear personal-use limits

The law protected possession of one ounce of cannabis, eight grams of concentrate or infused products containing up to 800 mg THC. It also allowed unpaid transfers to another adult within those limits, including transfers of immature plants.

Adults could grow six plants, with no more than three mature flowering plants. The six-plant ceiling applied to a residence and its grounds. Growing had to be enclosed, locked, hidden from public view and carried out on property the grower lawfully possessed or used with consent.

People could keep the cannabis produced by their permitted plants on the premises where it was grown. That separate protection mattered for a harvest larger than the ordinary possession allowance.

The governor pointed to patients and the illicit market

Guam had approved medical cannabis in 2014 and offered patient home-growing permits in 2018. In explaining the adult-use decision, Leon Guerrero described patients waiting years for safe access and an illicit market continuing to operate.

She acknowledged calls for a veto and argued for regulation, education and controls over supply. The law envisaged tested, packaged and tracked cannabis sold by regulated businesses, with excise-tax revenue supporting public services.

Public use and workplace restrictions continued

Open public consumption carried a fine of up to $100 unless allowed through regulations. Breaking the home-growing location or security conditions while otherwise within the plant allowance could bring a fine of up to $500.

Employers retained workplace restrictions, and people controlling private property could prohibit cannabis there. The law preserved federal enforcement and penalties or proceedings that predated its commencement.

Building the commercial market took years

The Cannabis Control Board was given one year to adopt rules. Commercial regulations took effect in May 2022, including requirements for laboratory testing and separate business and operating approvals.

The lack of a qualifying laboratory led to a temporary testing exemption in 2024. The first grower’s operating permit followed in June 2026, with further steps required before production and sales. Personal possession, gifting and growing had become legal years before that commercial milestone in Guam.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}