A nascent industry in cannabis products in Bermuda, including products without any psychoactive effect and used to treat anxiety, has been shut down by the customs department without explanation, two business leaders told The Royal Gazette.

Questions last week to customs about the island’s threatened business in cannabis products, including the compound CBD, went unanswered.

“The law has not changed — how they apply the law has changed,” said Tamara Richardson, vice-president of sales and operations at the People’s Pharmacy in Hamilton, whose shelves of cannabis products have sat empty since last summer.

It comes after the operators of a popular business that was legally cleared to sell cannabidiol and hemp-derived products have said they have no choice but to close shop at the end of this month after an about-face by authorities.

Michael’le Cannonier, the owner of the new business Uplift — which had expanded to two locations in Hamilton — said she was baffled at the reversal of her approval.

“In the beginning, we sat down with customs and police and told them of our plans,” she said. “Everybody was informed who needed to be.”

They started out selling at Harbour Nights before they opened the Uplift Dispensary on Burnaby Street in Hamilton in September 2022, followed by a Front Street outlet one year later.

The business won the Rocket Pitch and women’s conference pitch competitions presented by the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation in 2021.

Uplift also graduated from the Ignite Bermuda entrepreneurial accelerator, and took the BEDC’s Enterprise Bermuda incubator programme.

The business checked identification, limited sales to customers aged 21 and above, and used child-proof containers for its products.

Ms Cannonier, a nursing assistant, described it as a “safe space” for customers, which included cancer patients, people with anxiety and visitors to the island.

“We invested in high-quality infrastructure, which is why it’s so disappointing that we have been pushed out,” she said.

Hemp products with less than 1 per cent of the psychoactive ingredient THC were legal for sale — until last April, when the Government’s website stipulated that the legality also included “such other concentration as may be specified by the minister”, and the customs department began blocking imports.

Ms Cannonier said she had subsequently lost more than $100,000.

“They’ve ruined my personal credit because of the loans I had to take out,” she said. “I have a son with special needs who I’ve had to take out of school. I live in a studio with my parents. We’ve literally lost everything.”

The business, which at one point had five full-time staff, will close its remaining Burnaby Street establishment on February 28.

Ms Cannonier said she had written to the Attorney-General, the Ombudsman, the Premier and the Minister of National Security, as well as customs.

“We’ve received no answers,” she said.

She highlighted the case of Infinity Hemp, which had its hemp products seized by police — but secured a court judgment in 2019, with Narinder Hargun, the Chief Justice, confirming it was “lawful to import hemp products purchased in the United States, Canada or the European Union and for this purpose ‘hemp products’ means goods put up for retail sale containing any part of the industrial hemp plant including hempseed; or cannabidiol [CBD] with THC less than 1 per cent”.

However Ms Cannonier said: “They’ve taken everything, so we have no choice but to close. We can’t even bring in products for pets.”

She said products that had been pre-approved were being held.

“All of a sudden, things changed,” Ms Cannonier said. “We would like to get an explanation why.”

The same was confirmed by Ms Richardson, who was hit with a seemingly random embargo in August last year for a shipment valued at more than $10,000 — and who has since been unable to get answers.

Ms Richardson said: “Customs directed me to the police, and we’ve been told we have to test everything. According to how the law was interpreted, you could sell anything that was below 1 per cent. That allowed us to bring in all types of products.”

Beginning in August, shipments were held, she said.

She added: “I would love to get clarity. Until I can get clarity, I cannot take the financial risk of them arbitrarily applying the law.”

The issue gained a political dimension last week with the Progressive Labour Party’s election platform, which committed the party to “reviewing and updating cannabis-related guidance, regulations and oversight to strike a balance between the limits of the UK framework and safe, responsible adult cannabis use”.

Previously, the PLP government had brought the Cannabis Licensing Bill 2022 to Parliament, but it was blocked from approval by Rena Lalgie, the Governor, after advice from the British foreign secretary, because it was “not consistent with obligations held by the UK and Bermuda under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances”.

Rayki Bascome-Emery, an independent candidate for Paget East (Constituency 22) responded last week to the PLP’s platform.

He said: “Let’s talk about this cannabis pledge. We’ve had a safe legal market for cannabis all this time. It’s called THCa, CBD, Delta 8+10, HHC, and the PLP shut it down and allowed their good friends to import and sell the product.

“Imagine being the brilliant women who built and operated Uplift watching your business fall apart when another local company is distributing the same product without any headaches.

“I met with the Minister of National Security on multiple occasions to discuss packages that were confiscated by customs from clients I represented. All the while another local company was distributing the same product.”

Ms Richardson at the People’s Pharmacy said that, as of August, she was in the same predicament as Ms Cannonier, even though “nothing has changed in law”.

She said of Uplift: “They are not alone.”

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