National Commission on Ganja in August 2001 (Headed by the late Barry Chevannes) recommended:
"...the decriminalisation of ganja for personal, private use by adults, and for use as a sacrament for religious purposes..."
...The commission also said that, after reviewing the most up-to-date body of medical and scientific research, it is "of the view that whatever health hazards the substance poses to the individual — and there is no doubt that ganja can have harmful effects — these do not warrant the criminalisation of thousands of Jamaicans for using it in ways and with beliefs that are deeply rooted in the culture of the people. Besides, there is growing evidence that the substance does have therapeutic properties".

Key advocates of the decriminalisation of ganja are getting ready to launch a cannabis growers' association here as momentum builds towards establishment of a formal ganja industry in Jamaica.

Encouraged by legalisation of ganja in Colorado and Washington in the United States, and Uruguay in South America, the Jamaicans foresee the development of a local, regional and international cannabis industry, led by a Cannabis Future Growers and Producers Association, that will eventually generate billions of dollars for the Jamaican economy.

• The growers' and producers' association will be launched on January 18, 2014 (at UWI-Mona) as one outcome of a major stakeholders forum titled 'Going Forward -- Legalise it', that organisers hope will bring together the disparate entities planning a future in ganja...

• "The launch of the Cannabis Future Growers and Producers Association is expected to be one of the outcomes of the forum."
(Paul Burke-spokesperson)

• The stakeholders forum is being organised by the tripartite Ganja Law Reform Coalition, the Cannabis Commercial and Medicinal Research Task Force, and the National Alliance for the Legalisation of Ganja.
Among the invitees are the Jamaica Agricultural Society; the State-run Scientific Research Council (SRC); the University of the West Indies; the University of Technology, Jamaica;
micro, small and medium-sized enterprises; parliamentarians; other representatives of the political parties and their youth offshoots; artistes; and other advocates of legalisation.

• Formation of a ganja planters grouping anticipates the decriminalisation of ganja, which is now being widely taken as a done deal, with both sides of the parliamentary fence sharing rare agreement on a major issue.

• A recent book: Cannabis, Marijuana, Ganja: The Jamaican and Global Connection, jointly authored by Dr Henry Lowe and Dr Errol Morrison, outlining the attributes and potential of ganja. Lowe is somewhat ahead of the game, having recently established Jamaica's first medical ganja company called Medicanja.

• A position paper developed by the Cannabis Commercial and Medicinal Research Task Force, led by Delano Seiveright, outlined the many products and business opportunities that could be developed from a cannabis industry, including:

food; personal care; wellness; beauty; clothing; travel and leisure; spirituality; construction-paper fibres; seed oils; essential oils; seed nut; leaf; whole-plant; charcoal, environmental-soil rehabilitation; spas, restaurants, coffee houses, shops, guest houses, clinics and the like.

Observer Link:
www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/And-now----a-ganja-growers-assn-_15566030

It's really about power and money Zephyr.

I respectfully disagree Pan.
It is about POLITICS !!!!
ONE LOVE !!
Mike

Politics is about money and power Mikey.

I just read an article that said China hopes to be the world's supplier as marijuana becomes legalized? China??? This might be a chance for Jamaica to get out from debt. Think Peter Tosh here.

Yes Pan.
I must admit that when you look at it as a "whole", you are RIGHT !
ONE LOVE !!
Mike

Let’s get confessional (they say it’s good for the soul). Has anyone endangered the lives of others/themselves while stoned (high) on ganja, perhaps while driving a car, or handling machinery or equipment? In days of youthful immaturity (a sporting Invincible), I have, and give benediction that I/others are not “six feet under”, or that I didn't land behind bars.

With the states of Colorado & Washington approving the recreational use of marijuana, within its borders, the question of: “how high is too high to drive” is at the forefront.
In Colorado, the standard being explored is: 5 nanograms-per-milliliter of blood (ng/ml) of THC as the legal limit.
Here is a sampling, under controlled conditions, of how some regular pot users fared on a closed track. (The assumption is that no consideration about the strength of their marijuana intake or habits of use were noted)

CBSDenver Links:
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/05/20/too-high-to-drive-cbs4-puts-stoned-drivers -to-the-test

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/05/21/colorado-stoned-driving-bill-attracts-laws uit

(In the accompanying photos, notice Lauren’s “happy-happy as a clam” demeanor…could she be thinking about her munchies habit, and all the brownies that await her after the test!)

Casualties on J’can roads, from speeding to overtaking on curves to running down chickens for the supper pot are a concern for all of us, even with all the pot-holes & some “sleeping policemen” in residential communities.
As the process for legitimizing ganja for medical/recreational use advances in our representative assemblies/courts, should there be any surprise that sobriety checkpoints would also be insisted upon, doubly for alcohol, THC, (cocaine?)…

Would we feel that our "rights" were being abridged if the state apparatus were, under the rubric of public safety, institute safeguards and testing for driving, and in critical jobs, the workplace (if we had a mini-nuclear reactor, would we want those at the controls toking on their breaks?)

According to the National Road Safety Council, speeding remains the number one cause of fatal road accidents.
"Road users should be aware that speed limits have been established to assist them in controlling their vehicles… Exceed the speed limit, and your vehicle is converted from a mode of transportation into a lethal weapon.” (Dr Lucien Jones—NRSC Chairman)

Those familiar with ganja use may suspect that slow driving, dancing hand gestures, smiling philosophizing facial expressions, but also impaired reflexes, could be more common than the more aggressively inebriated, alcohol-fueled bravado.

Observer Link: Road Fatalities For 2013 Rise by 17%
www.jamaicaobserver.com/auto/Road-fatalities-for-2013-rise-by-17_15733030