CLA authorises Mines & Geology Division to provide testing for local cannabis industry
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Mines and Geology Division (MGD) of the Ministry of Transport and Mining has been granted special (interim) authorisation by the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) to provide testing services, particularly for the testing of the presence of heavy metals in cannabis and cannabis products.
This makes MGD the 4th approved cannabis testing facility, joining a list of partners for testing to include the Bureau of Standards Jamaica, the Scientific Research Council and Caribbean Toxicology Laboratory of the University of the West Indies.
Prior to the CLA issuing these authorisations, local licensees could only access testing for their products overseas.
Speaking on the granting of the special authorisation, CLA CEO Daenia Ashpole, said this initiative was geared at “strengthening the testing services being offered to the medical cannabis industry to continue to safeguard consumers”.
“Testing not only ensures that the local industry continues to produce quality products for local consumers, but it also facilitates international trade,” she said.
Commenting on the impact the MGD’s involvement will have on the development of the industry, Commissioner of the Mines, Roy Nicholson, said the MGD has “the requisite skillset and equipment to provide premier quality testing of cannabis and cannabis products, plus a guaranteed fast turn-around time for analyses”.
He added that this partnership allows the MGD to extend its highly efficient technical laboratory services to a new market.
Regulation 15(4) of the Dangerous Drugs (Cannabis Licensing) (Interim) Regulations, 2016, empowers the CLA, at any stage of cultivation, to require a licensee to have any ganja at the cultivation site tested.
In addition, Tripartite Agreements, which are used to facilitate trade among licensees, require that testing must be conducted by a competent laboratory having a licence issued by the CLA, or by an entity having legislative authority to provide the required testing services to determine the quality of the cannabis to be sold by licensees.
