KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) has disclosed plans that it is working on establishing an online platform to facilitate its application process.

Director of research development and communications at CLA, Felicia Bailey, said that the project, which is being piloted by JAMPRO, will further the growth of the medical cannabis industry.

“We are working alongside JAMPRO to bring the application process fully online and we are continuing to improve our stakeholder relationships and building partnerships with regulators internationally,” she explained.

Bailey noted that this is also expected to advance the authority’s goal of reducing the time it takes for an application to go through the stages from submission to award of the licence.

“Some of what is being put on this platform will be automated, so it will reduce the processing time and decrease the likelihood of human errors, so it adds some rigour to our application process,” she explained.

According to Bailey, the platform will also facilitate more people becoming involved in the industry.

“It increases access to application because more persons will be able to apply from a remote location, so they can be in another country and still be able to apply and be successful in their application without coming to Jamaica, and that opens up various revenue streams and further grows the industry,” she said.

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