Ganja gathering – Jamaican delegation learns about Israeli cannabis industry
A senior Jamaican delegation, including Agriculture and Industry Minister Audley Shaw, currently visiting Israel to deepen bilateral and business ties, used the opportunity to also expand its knowledge of the local cannabis industry.
The delegation visited Lumir Lab, a medical cannabis research lab located in the Biotechnology Park of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem campus. The delegation was welcomed by Lumir Lab CEO Yotam Hod and Professor Lumir Hanus, a 49-year veteran in cannabinoid research. Cannabinoids are the active ingredients in the cannabis plant that provide pain relief and are therefore used for medical purposes.
Hod said that cannabis was a significant part of Jamaica’s culture and tradition, and Jamaica recently developed a medical cannabis program that could greatly be enhanced by his company’s expertise.
“The vast knowledge accumulated in Jamaica as part of the use of cannabis in most households and the unique genetics of cannabis plants that found only in Jamaica, coupled with the distinctive scientific capabilities provided by Lumir Lab, create a unique collaboration that will lead to the development of advanced products,” Hod said.
Hanus, as one of the world’s most well-known researchers in the field, has written hundreds of articles on the subject and his discoveries form the basis for cannabis’s legitimacy as a medical treatment for a variety of diseases and symptoms around the world.
The delegation, which also included the director of the Cannabis Licensing Authority in Jamaica, the director of the Economic Development Authority, the president of the College of Agriculture and Science, as well as businessmen and directors of companies in the fields of agriculture and industry, expressed interest in the growing international research of the cannabis plant for the enormous economic and medical potential of expanding cannabis treatment to alternative medical fields.