Individuals made their positions known during yesterday’s ‘Candid Conversation about Cannabis’

Jamaican cannabis regulators and policymakers spoke out about issues dogging the country’s legalised cannabis sector, which has been in a wait-and-see mode because of a number of factors such as the long-delayed rules for exports.

They made their voices heard on these issues during yesterday’s (June 2) virtual forum centred on ‘Jamaica’s Cannabis Industry and the Supporting Role of Accreditation’, in which they focused on the issue of quality control. The forum was organised by the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC), in observance of World Accreditation Day, which will be held on June 9.

A major theme of the virtual forum was the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 9, which is “industry, innovation and infrastructure”. More broadly, officials and regulators emphasised that yesterday’s event should be considered a “candid conversation about cannabis”. 

The speakers at the virtual event included Dr Norman Dunn, state minister in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce; Levaughn Flynn, chair of the Cannabis Licensing Authority; Simon Roberts, chair of JANAAC; Sharonmae Shirley, CEO of JANAAC; Diane Edwards, president of the Jamaica Promotions Corporation; Jason Henzell, vice president of  the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica; and Richard Crawford, president of the Ganja Growers and Producers Association of Jamaica

Wait-and-see mode due to perennial issues

In 2015, Jamaica became the first Caribbean nation to legalise cannabis for medical, therapeutic, and scientific purposes. Since then, local leaders have been eager to see Jamaicans claim their piece of the global cannabis economy but the industry is being stifled by perennial issues.

But as Cannabis Wire has reported, Jamaica’s cannabis industry, which has attracted international interest has been in a wait-and-see mode in recent times, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and the long-awaited export rules, which were promised last April. The Government has already conceded that Jamaica’s domestic cannabis industry has “a lot of catching up to do if it is going to hold on to a piece of the pie of the global cannabis industry”.

In his presentation, Dunn emphasised the need for a candid conversation about cannabis because “it gives us the ability to discuss openly and freely about an industry which has been in the dark for a very long time”.

He highlighted how global policies have affected the development of Jamaica’s cannabis economy, noting that the United Nations placed cannabis in the most restrictive category of its main global drug control treaty, the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961.

For his part, Roberts said Jamaica is the only Caribbean signatory to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation Mutual Recognition of Arrangements, which “increases the acceptance of products across national borders and eliminates the need for additional testing and or inspection of imports and exports, thus reducing technical barriers to trade”. 

According to Roberts, “as we highlight the growth potential for Jamaica’s cannabis industry, public and private sector businesses are encouraged to tap into JANAAC’s accreditation services to increase the overall competitiveness of this industry and to provide confidence to the systems and processes used to advance the research, manufacture, packaging, and sale of medicinal marijuana and other cannabis products in the marketplace”.  

Lack of banking services major hindrance

One topic loomed large during the conference was the status of banking services for Jamaica’s cannabis industry, where the short answer is that it’s hamstrung by the United States federal government’s continuation of federal prohibition, creating a “hindrance” to the development of Jamaica’s industry. 

Flynn, the chair of the CLA since February, spoke about the hurdles thrown at Jamaica’s cannabis industry by United States policy. 

“Our hands really are tied as it relates to the banking sector. And the simple reason is that because most of our local banks do correspondent banking with the US banks, and cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, the banks aren’t going to take on the risk of doing business with a local cannabis company because they put their entire business at risk, potentially losing their banking licence,” Flynn said. 

Flynn also pointed to the possible momentum of the SAFE Banking Act in Congress, and said that once that legislation passes, “that will have a domino effect pretty much on the rest of the world, including Jamaica”.