Letter of the Day | Regulations needed for cannabis edibles

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The Ganja Growers and Producers Association of Jamaica (GGPAJ) has always condemned the selling of cannabis edibles to minors, and as such calls on the authorities to move swiftly to have the existing protocols observed to avoid any more unfortunate incidents like that which occurred on Monday at the Ocho Rios Primary School in St Ann.

THE GGPAJ and Jamaica License Cannabis Producers would also like to clearly state that they are not distributors of these unlicensed products and no registered member of this group were directly or indirectly associated.

However, the GGPAJ is also calling on the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) and the Ministry of Health and Wellness to speedily put in place regulations for edibles and packaging to prevent a reoccurrence of this situation.

The GGPAJ note with concern that the authorities have allowed the importation of edible products that contain ‘delta 8’ into the island without proper scrutiny, so that the uninformed are mixing up the component ‘delta 8’ with the component ‘thc delta 9’, which stemmed from a misplaced arrow on a diagram of the packaged sweets.

The GGPAJ and the Jamaica License Cannabis Producers are calling on the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Wellness and its agency, the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA), to acknowledge our knowledgeable existence and ability to help shape and guide the well-needed regulations and to partner with them to develop and implement a public education programme on responsible cannabis use by adults and prevention of use by minors.

The GGPAJ and the License Cannabis Producers continue to implore their members to act responsibly in building an accountable cannabis industry.

ERROL HAUGHTON

Vice President, GGPAJ