With countries across the world increasingly embracing or at least diligently probing the medical options afforded by marijuana, the tiny CARICOM island group of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is reportedly moving to accelerate the development of its cannabis industry, according to a release sent to the Stabroek Business from the Jamaican Com-munication Consultants, Berl Francis & Associates.
According to the release, having established its own Medicinal Canna-bis Authority (MCA) in 2018, the authorities there have issued licences to traditional cannabis farmers to legitimise the cultivation of the crop. Since then, SVG has moved to recruit Dr. André Gordon, Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaican firm TSL Technical Services Limited (TTSL) to train the farmers and to assist in the upgrading of the capabilities of the technical officers attached to the country’s MCA.
Widely regarded as an expert in the field, Dr. Gordon is the founding Chair of Jamaica’s Canna-bis Licensing Authority in Jamaica, the pioneer in the Caribbean for medicinal cannabis, in addition to being an expert in international trade, standards, regulatory compliance and analytical testing, all areas in which he is expected to provide advice to the SVG government. According to the release, the MCA in St. Vincent & the Grenadines has been hosting training sessions for the country’s traditional cannabis growers with a focus on international production standards, introduced in the country by Dr. Gordon. Sessions on Good Agricul-tural and Collection Prac-tices (GACP) which are part of the training were designed to familiarise participants with global best practices and offer an outline for operating within the framework of GACP. Dr. Gordon has also been providing intensive training for the MCA staff in GACP and Good Manufac-turing Practice (GMP) standards and has also been providing consultation to licencees on the design and construction of their production facilities.
According to Dr. Gordon, “Implementation of GACP is crucial to farmers’ ability to export internationally or sell cannabis products locally to international buyers. An understanding of this cultivation standard is therefore a necessity for development of a competitive, compliant medicinal cannabis sector.” The training is part of an ongoing process which started early last year, prior to the creation of the MCA and involves, among other things, guidance in the structuring and rollout of the regulations governing the overall functioning of the industry, design and setting up of an analytical capability, the incorporation of traditional ganja farmers across the island into the legal medicinal cannabis industry and training of a technical team, extension officers and inspectorate at the MCA in good agricultural and manufacturing practices.
The work plan includes consultations with investors and farmers on standards and best practices, including plant layout and design of facilities. It also includes training in GMP. The training forms part of the SVG government’s commitment to the strengthening of the position of traditional cultivators within the medicinal cannabis industry to ensure that they are not left behind in an increasingly competitive market environment.
TTSL and its related entities will be working on an ongoing basis with the MCA, farmers and industry, including inves-tors, to ensure that the medicinal cannabis industry in St. Vincent & the Grenadines will be able to meet the highest possible standards, based on Euro-pean Union (EU) Good Manufacturing Practice, (EU GMP) and EU Good Agricultural and Collec-tion Practices (EU GACP), the release says.
TTSL and Dr. Gordon are also involved in providing guidance to the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis in the development of their medicinal cannabis industry.
CARICOM countries continue to set their own individual pace for embracing marijuana as part of the leisure and health industries, with Jamaica forging ahead with legalisation while other countries in the region lag behind.
