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Jamaican Indigenous Cannabis Strains Will Be Preserved

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[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]J[/dropcap]amaica’s indigenous cannabis strains will soon be identified and preserved through the efforts of a new research project.

Canadian-Jamaican medical cannabis exporter Jamaica Medical Cannabis Corporation Ltd. (JMCC) partnered with the National Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology in June. The project is entitled “Identification, Isolation and Conservation of Local Strains of Cannabis for Medicinal Use”. The $2 million project is funded through JMCC’s charitable foundation, 102.

“JMCC is fully committed to supporting the Jamaican medical cannabis industry every way we can and ensuring there are lasting benefits for the country and its people,” said Diane Scott, JMCC’s Chief Executive Officer. “As Jamaican medical cannabis grows in popularity, there is a real threat that the country’s unique strains will be lost or irrevocably contaminated by hybridization, and it was important for us to be able to help to preserve what we believe are some of the best medical cannabis strains in the world.”

Jamaica decriminalized cannabis and legalized medical cannabis in 2015, which allows cannabis to be grown legally, but the fees make it difficult for locals to cultivate within the law. The warm climate allows for outdoor cannabis crops, but the risk of cross-contamination brings concern about losing the heritage of Jamaican strains.

“We have to position ourselves, we have to take on the mantle (and) do what we have to do… as it relates to medicinal marijuana research,” said the Science, Energy and Technology Minister Dr. Andrew Wheatley last June. “It is like our birthright and we cannot allow persons from outside to come and take away our birthright.”

“We shall be using a nutraceutical affirmation of the claims for health benefits and we shall be archiving these claims for posterity, so that we can assure Jamaican cannabis strains a hundred years from now that Strain X shall be Strain X and not hybridized out or cross-fertilized in any way,” explained Professor Errol Morrison, the director general of the National Commission on Science and Technology.

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