MONTEGO BAY, St James — More than 10 kilogrammes, or roughly 22 pounds of legal cannabis, were recently exported to Canada by licensed Jamaican cannabis company, Global Canna Labs.

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw made the disclosure at a CanEx Investment Summit at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Downtown Toronto, Canada, last Thursday.

Under the theme, ‘Reducing barriers and finding ways to bridge the legal cannabis trade between Canada and the Caribbean,’ the shipment was hailed by Shaw as a significant step in the development of Jamaica’s nascent medical, therapeutic and scientific cannabis industry,” a release from the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) said.

Shaw, meanwhile, reinforced the Government’s commitment to put the finishing touches on import/export regulations for the cannabis industry.

Paul Glavine, president and director of Global Canna Labs, who also spoke at the summit, told current and potential investors that the company was gearing up for further exports to Australia and other nations, while opening dispensaries in Kingston, Montego Bay and other locations.

According to Glavine, the company is also moving to enhance its processing and packaging facilities and build out linkages with Jamaica’s tourism industry.

Global Canna Labs is one of the leading medical cannabis companies in Jamaica, and operates under a Tier 3 operator’s licence on its 270,000 square foot facility in the heart of Montego Bay, Jamaica.

The Tier 3 licence is the highest-issued licence by the CLA for the cultivation and production of medical cannabis.

This recent export of cannabis inflorescence/flower was the first shipment of this quantity, and CLA Director Delano Seiveright told the Jamaica Observer that previous shipments were relatively minor.

Orville Powell, a Jamaican businessman and managing director of Global Canna Labs, noted that the shipment “was a very rigorous and challenging process”.

“But in the end we got it done and our team has a tremendous feeling of satisfaction. This took effort and coordination from a number of individuals and parties but, I have to say that, from the CLA to the Ministry of Agriculture to Customs and the folks at the airport, that it was handled with great professionalism — and for that we are extremely grateful,” said Powell.

“The CLA, under the leadership of Chairman Cindy Lightbourne and Chief Executive Officer Lincoln Allen, has been very diligent and focused in ensuring that the industry continues to be supported within a very stringent regulatory environment that is in strict compliance with local and international laws.

“While we are cognisant of the many difficulties, it is essential that persons who seek to participate in the industry cultivate relationships with partners who operate with professionalism, integrity, honesty and accountability,” said Seiveright.

He argued that the leadership of Global Canna Labs includes some of Jamaica’s finest professionals who possess a wealth of experience in varying sectors including national security, hotel and human resource management, and sports administration.

“It is no surprise then that, despite teething pains, they have been able to overcome, to an extent, the knotty bureaucratic challenges that span entities in Jamaica and Canada so as to successfully export legal cannabis product,” said Seiveright.

The CanEx Investment Summit, Toronto is the latest in a series of investment summits hosted by CanEx this year.

Similar summits were held in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and the Cayman Islands, with other summits being scheduled for New York City, London and India.

– Horace Hines