For all those that celebrate 4/20, read these quotes from more supporters.

UTech, UWI get greenlight to grow marijuana for research

THE University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) and the University of the West Indies (UWI) will be the first two educational institutions to be issued with licences to grow marijuana for research purposes under the new provisions of the Dangerous Drugs Act, which took effect yesterday.

Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell made the announcement yesterday in his presentation in the 2015/16 Sectoral Debate in Gordon House .

At least two students were taken to hospital yesterday for suspected psychosis, brought on after they reportedly smoked marijuana to enhance their learning potential.

Education Minister Ronald Thwaites said in Parliament yesterday that he received troubling information from two principals that the 'decriminalisation day' for the weed coincided with maladjusted behaviours of students who, it seemed, believed that it was OK to smoke ganja.

"I got reports from two principals today of students feeling that ganja is now free and that they can now smoke it, and in one case, he [a principal] had to take more than one student to a nearby hospital for symptoms of psychosis," Thwaites later told The Gleaner.

Last year, The Weed Eater column debuted on 4/20 with a promise to take readers on “a cannabis-fueled culinary journey.” Since then, we’ve made a gourmet marijuana meal at Hunter S. Thompson’s house, sampled Melissa Etheridge’s weed-infused wine, brewed up some pot-fueled bulletproof coffee, explored the Joy of Cooking (while really stoned), concocted strain-specific cannabis cocktails, examined the Grateful Dead’s lasting influence on how we eat, and even shared a meal with Nonna Marijuana, the 92-year-old queen of cannabis cuisine. But perhaps, amid all the munchies and merriment, we’ve failed to make clear something vitally important: Marijuana edibles aren’t safe.

“How did I anticipate this question?” President Barack Obama joked during a Q&A event in Jamaica on Thursday when a Rastafarian man in the audience asked about the legalization of marijuana and hemp industry’s potential ability to lift Jamaicans out of poverty.

Obama resisted the urge to pander to the friendly crowd, but rather explained the situation as it stands in the U.S. now and how he think it might develop in the future.

U.S. President Barack Obama gets a tour of the Bob Marley Museum from a staff member Natasha Clark (L) in Kingston, Jamaica April 8, 2015. While in Jamaica Obama will meet with leaders of CARICOM, the Caribbean Community nations, before continuing on to Panama for the Summit of the Americas. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- President Obama, who arrived here Wednesday evening for a meeting with Caribbean leaders, made an unscheduled nighttime visit to the Bob Marley Museum.

"I still have all the albums," Obama, in rolled up shirtsleeves, told museum guide Natasha Clark, as he toured the home in central Kingston where the Jamaican reggae great lived from 1975 until his death in 1981.

For the past decades, Jamaica has been in a downward economic spiral and the trend continues year after year. Looking back 30 years, real per capita GDP averaged only one per cent, making Jamaica one of the slowest-growing developing countries in the world.

We are at a debt-to-GDP ratio of 138.9 per cent, ranking us among the highest in the world. The national unemployment rate of Jamaica is 13.4 per cent compared to 5.5 per cent in the US. Unemployment among the youth is twice the national rate, according to the latest World Bank report. The poverty rate has increased by eight per cent in a few years.

The Government has moved to make ganja a "ticketable" offence -- like to be fined for exceeding the speed limit -- and to make it legal for medical and religious uses. Consumers were given choice, but this was never an option for tobacco. Still, as we are not good at obeying rules; those who are minded to drink, smoke, or shoot it up will beat the gate. Within a year, people will be doing as they wish and, as market forces kick in, they will cuss the US Feds for not allowing us to send Christmas gifts of ganja to New York relatives.

Farmers in Clarendon are preparing themselves to take advantage of the impending changes to laws around the use of marijuana.

To this end, the cultivators have formed the Clarendon Ganja Farmers' Association.

Convenor of the association, Ras Manga, is hopeful that the farmers will reap economic benefits from ganja.

"We had our first meeting last (month) and it was intended to shed some light and bring knowledge to the farmers that have shown an interest in coming together to see how we can develop the industry in Clarendon," he said.

He disclosed that the group was made up of about 30 farmers who are examining the feasibility of exporting marijuana and producing edibles from the plant.