THE Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) has issued its 50th licence for operations in the medical cannabis industry.

The Montego Bay-based Outlier Biopharma Limited was presented with the permit to operate a retail herbal house (without facility for consumption) during a ceremony on Wednesday at the CLA’s New Kingston offices.

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw commended the CLA on the milestone, and hailed Outlier Biopharma for joining the growing local cannabis sector.

“The industry is moving fast. Even as we celebrate this 50th licence, it’s not a licence for us to slow down; it’s actually an opportunity for us to speed up. That we must do, because the industry is moving fast globally,” he said.

Shaw meanwhile, said he will be seeking to fast-track the regulations for the export of cannabis.

“I’m going to be making a call to the chief parliamentary counsel so that we can begin to promulgate our exports,” he said.

Director of Outlier Biopharma, Brian Thelwell said his company wants to be one of the leading cannabis entities in Jamaica, “and we plan to be a model company globally”.

“Today represents the first stone being laid to pave the way,” he said.

Thelwell said that the company has plans to create an ecofriendly sustainable zone in Lethe, Hanover, which will be further developed into a holistic and eco-tourism destination.

CLA is an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries. It was established in 2015 under the Dangerous Drug [Amendment] Act (DDA), with a specific role to establish and regulate Jamaica’s legal cannabis and hemp industry.