KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) is on a path to achieving International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2015 certification.

ISO 9001 is an international standard that specifies requirements for a quality management system. It’s part of the strategic public sector transformation project of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.

Director of Research Development and Communications at the CLA, Felicia Bailey,  said the CLA views ISO 9001: 2015 certification as another way to develop and grow the medicinal cannabis industry.

“ISO certification now would see to us having a quality management system that helps us to satisfy our clients, ensuring that what we are doing is globally accepted and also well within what is best for our clients. It also ensures that our processes are streamlined in such a way that would ensure success through efficiency,” she said.

Bailey said the CLA has completed 50 per cent of the process of achieving ISO certification, while revealing that only two divisions within the authority are presently being certified.

“We started with the two major operational divisions, which are the licensing and application division, and also the enforcement and monitoring division. There will be a process to on-board other divisions onto the certification,” she said.

She added that all divisions at the authority are being positively impacted by the changes being made to achieve ISO 9001: 2015 certification.

“Even though we are focusing on the two major divisions, the other divisions that support the major operational divisions’ processes also have to be up to that standard,” she noted.

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