The requete recommends setting up a working party of deputies who would have until the end of next year to devise a model for cannabis to be legalised and regulated locally.
But lead signatory Marc Leadbeater now wants to delay the debate until the conclusion of a code of conduct investigation into accusations of dishonesty about his and his family’s links to cannabis companies.
He told States members yesterday that he was preparing a motion to withdraw his requete from the agenda at Wednesday’s States meeting. The final decision rests with the Assembly.
‘I don’t want an important debate to be clouded and overshadowed by the accusations against me,’ Deputy Leadbeater told the Guernsey Press.
‘It is best to withdraw the requete for now, clear my name, and then re-present the requete once all of the accusations against me have been dealt with and we can move on from this nonsense.’
The seven deputies behind the requete, published early last month, believe the island’s current cannabis regime unnecessarily damages users’ prospects later in life and prevents the States properly regulating the drug and earning money from its sale. There are also concerns about thousands of prescriptions for medicinal cannabis ending up in the wrong hands.
Several of the requerants recently backed Deputy Leadbeater to continue leading their bid for cannabis reform, after he said he would not step back from the requete despite the allegations against him.
Interim standards commissioner Andrew Ozanne is since understood to have commenced a full investigation after deciding there is a prima facie case for Deputy Leadbeater to answer.
The case was submitted by fellow States member Robert Curgenven. He claims that Deputy Leadbeater was not open, transparent or honest in an interview with the Guernsey Press Politics Podcast during which he denied that close family members had a financial interest in the cannabis industry despite his sister and parents having small shareholdings in the parent company of Bailiwick Botanicals, which sells hardware to users of medicinal cannabis, and his parents having a minor stake in House of Green, which was previously active in cannabis processing but is now said to be a dormant company.
Deputy Leadbeater has insisted that the firms are not in the cannabis industry, denied providing misleading answers during his interview, and vowed to launch a vigorous defence to clear his name.
‘I am fed up with the suspicion about my actions created by the accusations thrown around against me,’ he said yesterday.
‘I am conscious that everywhere I go a few people are looking at me suspiciously, aware of the accusations. I’ve had enough of that, and I want to concentrate on clearing my name before proceeding with the requete at a later date.
‘I want to be getting on with political work. There is a lot of that which we are trying to do. But on this one issue I need to clear my name before picking up the requete again.’
He said the additional time would allow the requerants to make ‘any tweaks which become necessary’ to their requete, but insisted that was not the reason for the motion to withdraw it.
Deputy Curgenven is understood to be facing two code of conduct complaints himself. Both relate to the preparation and submission of his case against Deputy Leadbeater. Neither was submitted by a States member.