With the enactment of Bill 32-35 into law, the Archdiocese of Agaña said the war on keeping drugs and substance abuse away from children just lost major ground.
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero signed the legislation into law Thursday. Bill 32-35 legalizes cannabis for adult use and permits home cultivation for personal use. The legislation also allows a regulated cannabis industry on the island.
“The Archdiocese of Agaña stands by its position that the legalization of recreational marijuana will be very harmful to our island, especially our children,” read the statement from Archbishop Michael Byrnes.
“We are saddened by the decision of Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero to approve Bill 32 and sign it into law. We urge as she said today, for all groups in our community to devote tremendous effort and attention to protecting our youth from this illicit drug, which we all agree many of them are already regularly ingesting.
“How can we expect our youth to obediently stay away from “adult use cannabis” when it will multiply immensely throughout the island, and when adults themselves will now be more widely abusing it other than for medicinal purposes?”
“The war on keeping drugs and substance abuse away from our children just lost major ground. And we are our own worst enemies,” the archdiocese concluded.
