A special task force to inform the Tourism Ministry on using cannabis tourism for the promotion of the sector, is to be established.

Tourism Minister Edmud Bartlett said that although cannabis is still subject to Schedule I of the United States Controlled Substances Act – the most tightly restricted category reserved for drugs not currently accepted for medical use – the government is satisfied that the industry can benefit from the nutraceutical value of the drug.

“We are going to designate an area and, while I am not creating the policy, I am indicating that within that framework there is going to be discussions,” he said.

Bartlett was speaking at CanEx Jamaica, an event founded last year to promote networking, collaboration, education, and expansion of the legal cannabis market in Jamaica.

Robert Luke Browne, St Vincent and the Grenadines Minister of Health, Wellness and the Environment, joined Bartlett as one of the main government sector speakers at CanEx.

He said that Jamaica’s tourism industry could benefit greatly from the utilisation of the oil and wraps produced from the plant, as well as its direct medical application.

An area of the south-western coast of Jamaica, running from West End in Negril, Westmoreland, to Treasure Beach in St Elizabeth, would represent a critical area for the development of nutraceuticals as part of the cannabis-enthused experience in tourism, said Bartlett.

“This is not to say that there are not possibilities elsewhere, but I make the point that if it isn’t planned, if it isn’t structured, and if it isn’t orderly and managed, and if we are going to create wealth from its expansion and development, what will become of these industries?”