Policy changes over the past five years or so have dramatically reshaped the global cannabis market. Not only has there been an unprecedented boom in medical markets, but following policy shifts in several jurisdictions a growing number of countries are also preparing for legal regulation of non-medical use. Such moves look set to bring a clear range of benefits in terms of health and human rights. As this groundbreaking Report, highlights, however, there are also serious concerns about the unfolding market dynamics.

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The Jamaican Government is finalising legislation to allow for marijuana producers to export. Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw says producers could potentially earn $30 million per gallon for exported marijuana oil. “I have set a target for the end of September for the regulations to be promulgated,” said Shaw. “I want us to start exporting extracted oil and buds from Jamaica to external markets.” Jamaica remains concerned about correspondent banking issues in the United States, where banks continue to block legitimate marijuana companies from conducting transactions, whether or not the product enters the US. (See also: Proposals to revolutionise medical cannabis industry put forward to Government)

A call has been made for the government to declare an amnesty on all arrests for the possession of under one pound of marijuana. The plea from the Ganja Future Growers Producers Association was made following the death of Mario Deane who was in the custody of the State. Deane was arrested and held at the Barnett Street police station lock-up in western Jamaica for possession of a marijuana spliff. While in custody, he was beaten and died in hospital a few days later.

Ganja growers are calling on the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) to clarify the conditions under which cannabis has been exported from Jamaica, even before the passage of the import/export regulations that are still in draft. “Some companies have been allowed to export and there is confusion as to whether it's samples for testing, or it's for export. There is nothing on the CLA website to guide how do you get this special permission for export,” acting programme director of the Ganja Growers and Producers Association Jamaica Paul Burke said. He said the cannabis growers continue to push for a moratorium, to allow traditional farmers to get involved in the regulated industry.

The Ganja Growers Association Jamaica (GGPAJ) has called for a meeting the Ministry of Industry Investment & Commerce (MIIC) to discuss the issue of ganja growers, their licenses, the impending and long awaited 'Transitional Permits'. According to the association, the MIIC and the ministries of Security, Justice, Agriculture, and the Cannabis Licensing Authority, need to address the confusion surrounding Rastafari growers and herbalists who also grow herbs and other spices for sacramental, medicinal, therapeutic, and other current and historically acclaimed uses in the industry. “In the interim, the GGPAJ would want an amnesty on the destruction of all cultivations until the much promised and long awaited Transitional Permits are in place.”

The law effectively clears the way for the decriminalisation of two ounces of marijuana, making possession a ticketable offence. Under the amended law, the Rastafarian community will have the opportunity to use ganja as part of its religious sacrament. National Security Minister Peter Bunting told his parliamentary colleagues that the implementation of the new law would take some time, as regulations would have to be developed and the Cannabis Licensing Authority established. This oversight body would have responsibility for establishing a lawful regulated hemp and medicinal ganja industry.

The Ganja Growers and Producers Association Jamaica (GGPAJ) has called for an immediate two-year incentive programme for marijuana cultivators, especially for small, traditional, Rastafarian and indigenous farmers, many of whom have been excluded from the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA)-regulated industry. Richard Crawford, president of the GGPAJ, made the call at the seventh anniversary of the approval of the Dangerous Drugs Amendment Act. "It is is socially, morally, culturally and economically wrong that those persons constituting the small and traditional ganja cultivators.. who were hounded, beaten, prosecuted, arrested, convicted, criminalised for growing ganja.. are being left behind."

The Ganja Growers and Producers Association (GGPA) welcomed the start of the consultation process for the special permit policy for the cannabis industry. The Cannabis Licencing Authority (CLA) said it had begun meeting with stakeholders on the Cultivator's (transitional) Special Permit Policy. The policy is geared towards transitioning small or subsistence farmers who currently find it challenging to obtain a licence to enter into the medical cannabis industry. While the GGPA welcomed the development, the association said it was alarmed that it was not consulted about the policy. The association noted that it has over 4,000 registered members of which over 600 are currently active.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Investment, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Dermon Spence has indicated that there could be headway in sight for the difficulties with banking for the local cannabis industry. Jamaica's legal cannabis industry continues to be severely hampered as banks refuse to handle ganja money, the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) has acknowledged. With the strong lobby by the Jamaican Government and the changing environment in the United States for cannabis banking, there were some positive developments in sight. The country's banking industry is tied to that of the US through correspondent banking arrangements. Local banks are cautious and are “unwilling to transact business with individuals and companies operating in the legal cannabis industry”

Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding, says Jamaica's ganja industry can assist in the economic recovery of the island, providing much needed foreign exchange and creating employment. Should his party become Government, they would take the law relating to the cannabis industry out of the Dangerous Drugs Act. “We will... enact a Cannabis Industry Development Act to support the inclusive development and growth of this industry,” Golding told Parliament. Households have the right to grow up to five ganja plants for medical, therapeutic or horticultural purposes. The PNP will empower householders to monetise this, by allowing them to sell their ganja to licensed processors or retailers, creating an important new economic opportunity to supplement the income of Jamaican households.

Small farmers, the Maroons and Rastafarians are to be given special treatment in the ganja industry whenever the People’s National Party (PNP) next forms the Government in Jamaica. That commitment was given by PNP President Mark Golding at the party’s 84th Annual Conference at the National Arena. He said it was time for Jamaica to move beyond decriminalisation of the weed. “The potential of this industry is vast but the Government does not seem to understand or believe in it. Time come to proactively empower and include small farmers in the ganja industry. They’re the ones who built and protected our knowledge system around ganja over a century of prohibition enforced by international interests,” Golding remarked.

Minister of Justice, Senator Mark Golding, tabled the much-anticipated Bill proposing the automatic expungement of convictions for certain minor ganja-related offences in the Senate. The Bill, officially titled An Act to Amend the Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders), also provides that conviction for a minor offence of ganja possession, which involves a fine of $1000 (or such other amount as may be prescribed), or for smoking ganja, shall not be entered into the criminal record of the offender.

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries is engaging international stakeholders to address the banking difficulties that have been impacting Jamaica's medical cannabis industry. Director of Research Development and Communications at the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA), Felicia Bailey, in making the disclosure at a JIS Think Tank recently, noted that the continued hesitance of banks to deal with players in the local industry remains a challenge. Many major banks are reluctant to fund the growth of medical cannabis out of fear of breaching federal laws in the United States of America. As a result, businesses are unable to attract financing, without which they cannot be licensed. (See also: Cannabis Licensing Authority committed to facilitating import, export)

Minister of State for Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Floyd Green, says the Government, through its Alternative Development Programme (ADP), is committed to assisting traditional cannabis growers to transition to the emerging legal medicinal industry. “The ADP was specifically created to offer farmers the technical and financial support they need to enter the legal industry. It is designed to guide the transition of small traditional Jamaican ganja farmers into the regulated and licensed cannabis industry,” he noted. “The ultimate goal is to create an environment where farmers can operate legally and where Jamaica can be positioned as a world leader in the global cannabis sector,” he added.

The Ganja Growers and Producers Association (GGPAJ) says despite the success of several Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) operators, Jamaica's regulated cannabis industry has failed to live up to its potential. In a statement the GGPAJ said while the 2015 legislation was progressive, the regulations are unworkable, restrictive and draconian. It said that the industry was not designed with a ground-up approach and blamed both of the major political parties for the state of affairs. It accepted culpability too, saying it has so far failed to adequately lobby on behalf of the local sector, but claimed it can still be rescued as an inclusionary income generating enterprise for thousands of Jamaicans with a new approach. (See also: Cannabis agency defends its stewardship on ganja)

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce of Jamaica, Senator Aubyn Hill, has suggested the legalised sale of marijuana to visitors as a way for Jamaica to earn revenue from countries that do not allow imports of the herb. "We don't have to send it in plane loads [as an export item]. We have to get our act together through the CLA [Cannabis Licensing Authority] , through the ministry, through RADA [Rural Agricultural Development Agency], and make sure the people who come here to buy our export product called tourism and hotels and jerk and so on, have access — legal, proper, regulated access — to this product," he said. (See also: Cannabis sector eager to expand tourism market; Hill said his comments were confined to the sale of medical cannabis)

Jamaica is to lobby the United States on the issue of legitimising licensed cannabis growers and processors under correspondent banking rules. Audley Shaw — Jamaica's minister of industry, commerce, agriculture, and fisheries — raised the matter in his address on plant medicine and cannabis at the Global Health Catalyst Summit at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Shaw noted that financial institutions in Jamaica and many international jurisdictions do not allow banking transactions for legally licensed medical cannabis companies because of the restrictions imposed by United States banks in their correspondent banking arrangements.

There’s a hint of disappointment in Courtney Betty’s voice when he talks about the present state of Jamaica’s legal medicinal cannabis regime. “I don’t think some of the companies coming in to do business here want to understand the social realities of Jamaica, or the real history of ganja in my country,” he said from his home in the country’s capital, Kingston. “I don’t think it is out of ignorance; I think this is just the way Western companies conduct business abroad.” By “Western” companies, Betty — the chief executive officer of Jamaican medical marijuana company Timeless Herbal Care — means Canadian. Since Jamaica legalized cannabis for medicinal cultivation and sale four years ago, a slew of Canadian pot companies have flooded the tiny island nation.

With Canada the largest nation to completely legalize marijuana, the world’s most valuable pot company, Canopy Growth Corp., founded in 2013 and now worth about $6.4 billion, is one of the most controversial pot companies, the embodiment of Big Marijuana that critics contend uses size, market power, and lobbying prowess to accelerate the loosening of cannabis laws around the world and shoulder out competitors and smaller businesses. Already Big Alcohol, Big Tobacco, and Big Pharma have bought their way into Canopy and other marijuana companies. And, like those longstanding giants, the new cannabis corporations are spending millions of dollars lobbying for laws that let them sell large volumes of potentially addictive products.