Jamaica: First cannabis licences issued by CLA

Last updated: November 2, 2017 at 15:12 pm

Jamaica’s Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) has issued two of the five licenses granted for legal operation in the cannabis industry.

These licences were issued during a ceremony at the Ministry of Industry Commerce Agriculture and Fisheries.

Epican ,a tier one cultivator, and Everyting Oily, a tier one processor, signed their tripartite agreement, signifying their arrangement to conduct business together – in keeping with the requirement to have the industry operate as a closed loop system.

Hyacinth Lightbourne, chairman of the CLA, said: “Although it has taken some time to get to this historic occasion, we have remained committed to getting it right, to ensure that Jamaica’s stake in the global medicinal cannabis industry is never compromised and remains sustainable.

“During the process, we have endeavoured to remain in dialogue with our applicants every step of the way, and are confident they have satisfied the rigours of the regulations; and now we are pleased to announce that Epican and Everyting Oily will be issued licences today.”

Three other applicants have been granted licences and are completing a number of further required, she added.

Another 209 applications are being processed, and the CLA said there are 57 at the conditional approval stage.

Earlier this year, Edmund Bartlett, the tourism minister in Jamaica, established a special task force to see whether cannabis tourism could be used to boost the country's visitor numbers. A recent poll in the eastern Caribbean shows that most people want existing marijuana laws to be relaxed.