Jersey's medicinal cannabis industry profits to be taxed at 20%

Companies growing medicinal cannabis in Jersey will pay 20% tax on profits, Senator Lyndon Farnham has confirmed.

He said planning and environmental issues related to the industry were being carefully monitored and managed.

Ministers issued the first licences for the commercial cultivation of cannabis in December.

The economic development minister said no tax subsidies or grants had been offered to growers, which he argued could contribute millions in taxes.

Senator Farnham's comments follow questions from backbench politicians on how the industry will be regulated and benefit the economy.

Constable of St Martin Karen Shenton Stone said people are being "kept in the dark" over the development of cannabis growing.

She claimed ministers had not properly answered her questions about it and issued licences before plans for regulation and tax plans had been confirmed.

Mrs Shenton Stone said: "I have grave concerns about how it's being set up - I don't think there's proper governance in place.

"I feel like this whole scheme was done on the back of a napkin."

St Helier Deputy Rob Ward has said the government must consider the environmental implications of growing cannabis in glasshouses - a method which can involve the use of quite a lot of electricity and water.

He argued the government needed to ensure cannabis growing would not have a "derogatory effect" on the environment, particularly ensuring the industry would not "put anything back into the water course" like fertilisers or nitrates .

Deputy Ward said: "We just need to be certain that what's being grown is being done safely with the least impact, and if possible, a positive impact on the environment."

Mr Farnham said the government was already working with the industry as part of a "very robust licensing process".

He said: "Any applicant has to go through extensive screening and scrutiny before they receive a licence, and when a licence is issued there will be a condition that an environmental impact study is carried out."

Senator Farnham added the drive to establish a medicinal cannabis industry is aimed at making land use more productive and farming more sustainable.

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