For centuries, cannabis has been coveted for its medicinal properties. More than simply a relaxant, it’s emerged as a bona fide treatment for a myriad of health concerns, from depression and anxiety to back pain and arthritis. Now, the green leafy plant has landed itself in the spotlight for yet another feat, with new research showing that cannabis could actively enhance night vision.

A Caribbean cocktail

A closer look at the changing country.

Normally when visiting weed friendly countries such as Amsterdam and certain states within the U.S., travellers still have to save the sneaky puff for allocated spots around the city.

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Although you’ll find the odd smoking booth outside your hotel, it’s generally not cool to be sparking a fat one in the comfort of your own room. But no longer will this be an issue as there’s now a website called ‘Bud n Breakfast’ where you can find accommodation that is cannabis friendly. Zing!

Set up by Sean Roby and Shayan Bastani, it’s basically like Hostelworld or AirBnB for people who like to get high. What’s not to like?

CITIVA, in collaboration with the University of West Indies, Mona announced today they are donating the first cannabis-based medicine extracted from their well-researched, high-CBD cannabis strain, to be used in a ground-breaking study in Jamaica that will examine its effect on children with Epilepsy. 

Wiz Khalifa has his own marijuana strain. Snoop Dogg has an entire line of edibles, concentrates and flower. Willie Nelson’s company is actually growing its own cannabis plants. And now Bob Marley’s youngest son has a pot shop branded with his name and aesthetics.

Reggae star Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley is in Colorado this week for a show at Boulder’s Fox Theatre on Friday, but he’s also celebrating today’s opening of Damian Marley’s Stony Hill — By Tru Cannabis, a rebranded pot shop near Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

“It’s the entire store,” Tru Cannabis operations director Andrew Kaplan told The Cannabist. “You’re in Damian’s branded facility — you could not be anywhere else.”

A group of international investors is looking to partner with local interests, particularly small farmers to corner the local and export market for ganja.

InCuBis International is working through the Ganja Growers & Producers Association (GGPASS) to have local farmers join a co-operative to control the marijuana industry “from seed to sale”, according to business consultant Tony Melcher.

Declaring that “the best weed comes from Jamaica”, Melcher carefully laid out InCuBis’ objectives as the “first incubation partnership in the world” at a Kingston forum.

Senior Government advisor Delano Seiveright wants American law students, academics and representatives of civil society representatives at Harvard University to press the US government to change “repressive” laws against the use of cannabis.

Seiveright, who is also a director of the local Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA), was speaking at Harvard Law School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts last Thursday.

Seiveright noted that while cannabis law reform is progressing “reasonably well” in Jamaica, the county still faces fundamental challenges related directly to the US government foreign policy and outdated United Nations conventions. 

Even the Jamaican ganja dealers are going legit.

Long a cannabis-friendly vacation destination — even if the commerce patronized was, technically, illegal — the birthplace of Bob Marley is laying plans to create a legal, government-sanctioned “health and wellness tourism” economy.

And that includes Jamaican-grown cannabis.

During remarks given at Canex Jamaica — the island’s very own cannabis business conference — Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett said he believes Jamaica’s southwestern coast is the ideal place to draw tourists more interested in being healthy than swilling tequila on the beach in Cabo.

Jamaica's south-western coast is being eyed as a health and wellness destination, offering cannabis-infused experiences, rustic luxury and nature tourism, says Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett.

The geographical area between Negril, West End in Westmoreland, and Black River, St Elizabeth, on the development agenda, is being considered as a new resort destination, Bartlett revealed to delegates attending the inaugural CanEx at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James yesterday.

He said the area was a very important path to the economic future of the country and would accommodate tourists wanting to experience products and services derived from cannabis.