Growing demand for Jamaican cannabis
There has been an increased demand for local cannabis in the global market space, as buyers from various countries seek to acquire the product for medicinal and research purposes.
The Cannabis Licensing Authority ( CLA) is reporting that since the start of the year, 19 export authorisations have been issued to allow companies to ship cannabis overseas and another 21 requests are being processed.
“So, several products [are being shipped] into several jurisdictions [such as] Canada, Australia, Israel, Zimbabwe, Cayman, Germany, Switzerland, and Portugal,” Faith Graham, acting CEO of the CLA, told JIS News.
The CLA has issued 42 export authorisations since 2018.
Graham said that the industry has come a long way and credits the efforts of local stakeholders in finding ready markets for Jamaican cannabis.
“What is happening right now in the industry is that licensees have had the opportunity to go through several crop cycles (and) they are the ones who are actually seizing and finding the opportunities out there to test the waters,” Graham said.
“Cannabis is a long- term investment, and what is good about it is that once we are able to penetrate these global markets with the standard of our cannabis, it means that it is paving the way for future commercial quantities being exported. So, this is the next phase of where the industry is,” she added.