Justice Minister, Senator Mark Golding says several international universities are collaborating with local institutions to carryout research on marijuana.

Justice Minister, Senator Mark Golding

In an address this week, at the second Joan Duncan Memorial Lecture at the University of Technology, Senator Golding stated that since the new ganja law came into effect, universities from Israel, North and South America, have been making links with local ones.

This, in an effort to forge business arrangements in a regulated industry in medical and therapeutic ganja as well as industrial hemp in Jamaica.

The Justice Minister says the new law will provide a robust platform on which an economically feasible regulated industry can be developed.

He states that Jamaica can now be legally established as a place for high quality medical and therapeutic products derived from ganja and hemp.

Senator Golding says renowned local scientists have put Jamaica on the world map, as to what can come from the ganja plant, adding that due to the legal restrictions their efforts were limited.

He is calling on tertiary institutions to partner with their international counterparts and establish legitimate enterprises for economic growth.

The Dangerous Drugs Amendment Act, better known as the ganja law, took effect on Wednesday, April 15.

The new provisions will govern the possession of and smoking of marijuana, use of ganja by people of the Rastafari faith, and use of ganja for medical, therapeutic and scientific purposes.