By Jamaica Observer
JAMAICA OBSERVER
– A special task force to inform the Tourism Ministry on using
cannabis-enthused tourism for the promotion of the sector, is to be
established.
Ed Bartlett, the tourism minister, 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.
“So, 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 told the opening segment of last Friday’s ‘Cannabis
+ Jamaica: The Time is Now’ seminar series involving international,
local and regional experts and stakeholders, staged by CanEx Jamaica.
CanEx Jamaica is an event platform started in 2016 to promote
networking, collaboration, education, and expansion of the legal
cannabis market in Jamaica. CanEx is focused on driving high-value
discussions and connections including the development of
cannabis-enthused or marijuana tourism, which involves the use of the
drug for recreation or wellness by tourists.
Bartlett who, along with St Vincent and the Grenadines Minister of
Health, Wellness and the Environment Robert Luke Browne, was one of the
main government sector speakers at the morning session of the all-day
event, 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.
He said that 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.
“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?”
Bartlett asked.
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