By Jon Hiltz

 

The University of the West Indies, based in Kingston Jamaica, has revived a special medical marijuana research project from the 1970’s.  The program is designed to enable various countries in the Caribbean to penetrate the vastly successful medical marijuana market and receive some of the profits that many other nations like Canada and the U.S. currently enjoy.  UWI also said that it would “bring jobs and much-needed development” to the island nations.

The University has been growing different strains of marijuana since 2015 to research the effects on the human body and develop products for the treatment of severe illnesses.

Professor Archibald McDonald is the Principal of the Mona Campus where the research is being conducted. He is optimistic about what this project and the Caribbean region can do for medical marijuana, and in turn, for their economy.  He stated, “The UWI Mona Campus will lead the world in medical cannabis.”

UWI’s magazine ‘The Pelican’ discussed the program in one of its latest issues by saying “The University of the West Indies has revived the ganja research programme it began in the 1970’s as it prepares to launch Jamaica as a global powerhouse for cannabis research.”  The magazine then went on to point out that the U.S. stands to make $13 billion in medical marijuana by 2019 with a tone that implies Jamaica and the other island nations need to get in on this market.

In 2015, Jamaica decriminalized the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana and now allows the cultivation of up to five plants.