WITH Jamaica possessing several unique strains of the marijuana plant, the development of a regulated cannabis industry can provide lucrative investment opportunities for investors.

This analysis was supported by many of the speakers at the recently concluded Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) 15th regional conference held in Kingston.

Leo Williams, managing director of the Small Enterprise Assistance Fund (SEAF), also stated that the local cannabis industry, while a very lucrative one, does face some challenges that must be resolved for Jamaica to secure real benefits from the industry.

Williams and other contributors at the conference made the point that once legal and financial hurdles and setbacks are addressed to open up the market fully, excellent opportunities will be there for investors.

“As we look at emerging markets, the cannabis industry is one that faces some challenges, when those challenges are solved there is quite a bit that can happen in medicinal and other products,” Williams said.

Laurence Zeifman of accounting firm Zeifman shared that for Jamaica to take advantage of this industry as others in Canada have done, certain accounting and auditing practices must be followed. Some of which, he said, is centred on the rules governing the use of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), a globally accepted reporting standard.

Canada and other countries within the last year-and-a-half have opened up its space for legalisation, and to date, over 250 companies are listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

Dave Garcia, head of group legal and compliance at the NCB Financial Group, in providing an update on the legislative aspect, also added that from a legal and financial standpoint, there are still outstanding issues concerning correspondent banking when dealing with the cannabis industry.

The issue he opined is not a simple one, as the unfinished legal procurement of international legislations has not yet been finalised. He then informed that things are slowly beginning to change and a motion for the passing of the Safe Banking Bill has now been sent to the Senate.

“That’s what we’re waiting on now at this stage in the local and regional context. We can now only monitor, prepare and get ourselves ready for the point at which the gates open, and you will all be able to run in, even at the level of medical use, investors be able to achieve some excellent results as legalisations have started to take place globally, and this has added some new pressure for there to be change taking place in other jurisdictions,” he said.

Gabriel Arrobas, chief executive officer (CEO) of investment brokerage company, Quest Trade, said that his company is ready to provide support through currency exchange, hedging, and global payments for companies in international markets as well as those in the local system.

“We are not a bank, but we touch unique and specific industries [such as the cannabis industry] and support their daily operations. Our clients use us to find subsidiaries pay vendors and pay for their global services. We do this at a fraction of the cost. The process is seamless and transparent. We are ready to support your local industry and businesses.

“Whether you are a public or private company of multi-currency accounts, we provide you with over 150 currencies that we settle globally; you could be anywhere around the world, we can facilitate those transactions in Canada, which makes us unique in the space,” he shared.

Just recently, Tree of Knowledge International Corp (TOKI), a Canadian medicinal cannabis company, became the first cannabis entity to be cross-listed on the JSE.