Saturday’s Panel at the Conference on Jamaica’s Cannabis Reform. From left to right: Professor Winston Davidson, Chairman of the Bureau of Standards, the Honorable G Anthony Hylton, Minister of Industry, Investment & Commerce, Amanda Feilding, Countess of Wemyss and Director of the Beckley Foundation, Dr. Andre Gordon, Chairman of the Cannabis Licensing Authority, and Diane Edwards, President of JAMPRO

This weekend in Negril the Beckley Foundation brought together leaders from the Jamaican government, the Rastafari community, and the business community to discuss the current progress and next steps for building a regulatory framework for a legal cannabis industry in Jamaica.

A measure of the attention Jamaican popular music has paid to marijuana is that the various artistes' Hi Grade Ganja Anthems albums themed around the topic reached volume four last year. And remember that these are songs solely about marijuana - its consumption, transportation, effect and consequences - not tracks that make passing reference (like the enduring Guinness and spliff combination).

Another measure of Jamaican popular music's engagement with marijuana is the line-up of the Rastafari Rootz Fest, currently on at Long Bay Beach, Negril, Westmoreland. It is the first event to be held under the marijuana exemption provision in Section Eight of the Dangerous Drugs Amendment Act 2015, as the festival is being held under the aegis of Rastafari.

Placings announced

More and more tourists are travelling to experience the freedom to try cannabis in tolerant countries

The whiff of weed is spreading across the globe as more countries decriminalise the possession of small quantities of cannabis. The Netherlands has always been the Mecca for those seeking a taste of something illicit but you can now travel further in order to indulge in a spliff or a hash cake.

Colorado, where cannabis was legalised three years ago, is already seeing a big growth in tourism. Tax revenues from the now legalised business are adding to the State’s coffers. Canada’s new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and his Liberal party are in favour of legalising marijuana.

HE won't be at the World Cannabis Cup in Negril this week, but British deejay Macka B fully supports the event which, based on Jamaican law, would have been unlikely up to early last year.

Coordinated by Rastafari Rootzfest and High Times magazine, the World Cannabis starts today and ends Sunday at Long Bay Beach Park in the resort town.

Ganja aficionados are expected to attend the event which was first held in 1988 by High Times, a monthly publication that has stridently called for the legalisation of ganja for 40 years.

"It's a positive step; the ultimate is for people to grow their own herb," said Macka B. "For Jamaica, which has the reputation for the best herb in the world, this is a great thing."

A group of investors is set to pump approximately half-a-million US dollars into Jamaica's first legal marijuana cultivation project.

The multimillion-dollar investment by Ganja Lab LLC is expected to begin in two weeks on lands located at the University of Technology (UTech) in St Andrew.

It comes months after the government enacted changes to the Dangerous Drug Act that allows for ganja cultivation and the development of a medical marijuana industry.

Speaking yesterday at a ground breaking ceremony, Chairman of Ganja Labs, Balram Vaswani, said the project will be done in two phases.

In the unlikely event that you’re currently wandering through Negril, Jamaica, and find yourself feeling a little different, it might be because you’ve stumbled upon the High Times Cannabis Cup, which is currently underway.

Described as ‘the world’s leading marijuana trade show’, the cup ‘celebrates the world of ganja through competitions, instructional seminars, expositions, celebrity appearances, concerts and product showcases.’

The Cup is only hosted in countries or states where medical and recreational cannabis have been legalised or decriminalised, so when Jamaica decriminalised weed in February this year, it became an obvious choice to host it.

The University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech., Ja)  in partnership with Ganja Labs, LLC, USA on Wednesday, November 10, 2015 officially broke ground at the site of the first state-of-the art Medical Marijuana Research Grow and Extraction facility located across from the historical silos on the North East of the University’s Papine campus. 

The milestone follows from UTech, Jamaica’s receipt of a licence on May 14, 2015 from Hon. Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining to cultivate marijuana for scientific and medical research.

WESTERN BUREAU: For some long-time residents of Negril, this week's Cannabis Cup, which is being staged as an integral part of the inaugural Rastafari Rootz Fest, is a classic case of dÈj‡ vu for the resort town.

According to the residents, the event, which will be staged at Long Beach Park between Thursday and Sunday, evokes memories of the 1960s when ganja-

loving hippies from North American would descend on Negril to indulge in their free-living passion - smoking ganja in a relaxed environment.

The National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA), in partnership with the United States Embassy, has launched the Youth Ganja Awareness Programme.

The programme is a public education campaign that is geared towards discouraging ganja use among young people, particularly those between 13 and 18 years of age.

Executive Director of the NCDA, Michael Tucker, told a JIS ‘Think Tank’, on November 5, that the campaign is very important and timely, because many of the young people in Jamaica are getting into problems because of ganja use.

“Over 20 per cent of young people in Jamaica experiment with ganja…in fact, 95 per cent of the clients that we see at the NCDA are actually young people who have issues that result from the use of ganja,” he said.

WESTERN BUREAU:

During the Negril launch of Rastafari Rootz Fest at Swept Away resort on Wednesday night, the organisers clarified what they say are misconceptions by the general public that the festival's main focus is the High Times Magazine's Cannabis Cup competition.

Rootz Fest co-organiser Eddie Wray said the Cannabis Cup could be held in Jamaica only because High Times had sought a collaboration to stage it during the festival, which runs from November 12-15 at Long Bay Beach Park, Negril.