CLA issues 27 ganja licences

Commits to due diligence to strengthen local medical marijuana industry

THE CANNABIS Licensing Authority (CLA) says that it has granted 27 licences since November 30, 2018, as the local cannabis industry slowly takes shape.

Underpinning its operations, the CLA said, are guidelines that are meant to strengthen the reputation of the local industry while preserving the requirements of the three United Nations drug conventions to which Jamaica is a signatory.

One of the ways the CLA does this is by requiring that each applicant, or the directors of an applying company, must meet a fit-and-proper requirement. This includes assessing the person’s character and professional integrity, assessing if the person possesses the requisite skills and experiences, the person’s source of financing, and the person’s history of compliance with the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015.

The CLA says that it works with at least six “local and international due-diligence partners” to determine fit and proper status.

Following the assessment, applicants are granted conditional approval status if they are deemed “fit and proper”. At this stage, the applicant’s premises and/or vehicles are assessed to be “fit for purpose”.

During the conditional-approval phase, applicants have up to six months to complete submission of required paperwork and transition to a licensee. It is at this stage that applicants, as well as the CLA, face the most frustration. Delays usually take place at this stage as, the CLA says, there is sometimes incomplete or inaccurate information on the application forms.

“In such cases, the due diligence or verification process must be redone, automatically triggering a new investigative process. Consequently, the application will not progress to the next stage,” the CLA explained.

Conditional-approval status does not allow applicants to conduct business.

As part of its due diligence, the CLA says it “performs continuous monitoring, surveillance, and enforcement activities to ensure that licensees remain compliant with the terms and conditions”.

“This is to remove possibilities of diversion from the legal trade into the illegal trade or inversion from the illegal trade into the legal medical cannabis industry,” said the CLA.

The authority also noted that applicants must observe the following guidelines:

1. Companies or businesses applying to operate in Jamaica’s ganja industry must be registered with the Companies Office of Jamaica.

2. Cooperative societies or friendly societies must be registered with the Department of Cooperatives and Friendly Societies.

3. The registered company is required to satisfy the regulatory requirements of “substantial ownership and control” (over 50 per cent of the shareholding and the directorship) by a Jamaican or a person(s) ordinarily resident in Jamaica.

4. An ordinarily resident individual, for the purposes of the interim regulations, must have documentary proof that he or she has lived in Jamaica for not less than three years immediately preceding the date of the application and is at least 18 years old.

Of the 27 licences issued so far by the CLA, 15 are for cultivation, four for processing, six for retail, and two for research and development.