Ganja A NATION in Jamaica IN TRANSITION

IN THE past six months, three medical ganja herb houses have opened in Jamaica. Kingston, Ocho Rios, St Ann, and Montego Bay, St James all offer a retail outlet where Jamaicans and visitors can legally purchase marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation.

The local herb houses rival their counterparts in the Netherlands and the United States both in aesthetics and product quality. Customer service is big for these medical ganja outlets. A doctor’s recommendation is easily facilitated with inhouse service or a Skype consultation.

Scientific researchers have also taken a keen interest in Jamaica’s reputable ganja strains. In June, the Jamaica Medical Cannabis Corporation revealed a US$2 million research project to identify specific medicinal benefits of indigenous weed.

Internationally, the past six months have also been groundbreaking for the cannabis industry. Constellation Brands, owners of Corona beer, announced a US$4 billion investment in Canopy Growth, Canada’s largest cannabis company. Constellation now owns 38 per cent of the Canadian company and is betting on ganja-infused beer in the near future when the US market opens up with federal legalisation.

Big-time cannabis brands such as Cronos Group, Canopy, Tilray, and High Times all recently listed on the US Stock Market as they strategically position themselves for global expansion.

BIG BUSINESS

Weed is big business!

All these significant developments in the local and global markets signal a burgeoning industry coming into its own. Never before has there been this much research and published medical journals about ganja. Success stories of its medicinal intervention across the world have replaced the 80-year-old propagandist rhetoric of ganja being dangerous and having no medical value.

Global rallies by ordinary citizens have been pushing lawmakers to decriminalise the plant, and investors haven’t been this excited since the dot com era.

According to Arcview Market Research, spending on legal marijuana is expected to hit US$57 billion by 2027, coming from an estimated US$10 billion in 2017. Earlier this year, cannabis analytics firm New Frontier Data estimated that marijuana legalisation in the US could create US$132 billion in federal tax revenue and inject more than a million jobs into the US labour market by 2025. Most countries use their tax revenues to fund drug rehab programmes, create public education campaigns, and run the regulatory body.

LOCAL INDUSTRY

With so much social and economic potential, how will Jamaica position itself to develop a ganja economic framework as reputable as the weed it produces? The Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) is the government agency responsible for regulating the industry. Its CEO, Lincoln Allen, and his team have embraced this very formidable challenge in transitioning from an illicit trade to a regulated one.

Jamaica’s reputation as a drug transshipment point, ensuring compliance and consistent product quality, and the exclusion of the cannabis industry from the banking sector are all significant challenges the team faces. Yet Allen is excited about the potential for the local industry and says it will be built on a strong reputation of consistent and safe products and a secure environment for all stakeholders.

By all indications, Allen isn’t the only one optimistic. The CLA has received more than 500 applications for various licences. Of that 500, the CLA has 126 conditional approvals and has issued 22 licences across 16 companies and one individual. The five licensing categories are cultivation, processing, transport, retail, and research and development.

The marijuana market operates as a closed-loop system, which means that licensed businesses can only conduct transactions with other licensed businesses. The CLA also acts as somewhat of a silent partner to these companies as it is present and active at every stage from seed to sale.

With the formalisation of the industry, some ‘small’ ganja farmers looking to transition from illegal to legal operations expressed concern over the fees and fears of alienation. The CLA says that the Dangerous Drug (Amendment) Act 2015 was written specifically with small farmers in mind, making provisions such as fee waivers, smaller acreages, and different tiers to its perimeter fencing requirement. Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw, whose ministry presides over the CLA, recently revealed that plans have been put in place to link small farmers in a cooperative with medical cannabis companies needing ganja oil.

EXPORT

Allen said that over the next few months, the CLA’s top priorities include establishing the regulatory frameworks for industrial hemp and the export of cannabis and its byproducts. Germany, Israel, Canada, and Italy are some of the major players in the global medical cannabis trade that are potential destinations for Jamaican ganja.

What a journey for a single plant – from one of man’s most important allies to public villain and now potential saviour for medicine and economies. Jamaica has joined an emerging business that is ripe with opportunities. Let’s see how high Jamaica can take its medical ganja industry.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Owing to a special arrangement between the Canadian and Jamaican governments, Timeless Herbal Care became the first Jamaican cannabis company to export cannabis oil on Thursday, September 27, 2018.