Jamaica has spent plenty of money on marketing and police as it has tried to scrub its reputation as a reefer lover’s paradise. But the global legalization movement, and encouragement from at least one Canadian company, has the island nation poised to cash in on its old brand.

With American states such as Colorado and Washington now regulating the use of recreational marijuana, and Canada’s new Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), which allow for the licenced import of the drug, coming into force on April 1, other countries are looking to get into the export market.

After legalizing marijuana in December, with plans to sell it for $1 a gram (as opposed the $6 per gram start price in Canada under MMPR), Uruguay is hearing from would-be importers.

And last fall, Jamaican lawmakers sought protection from the World Trade Organization for the word “ganja,” by which the country’s marijuana is popularly known, ahead of moves toward decriminalization and legislation of medicinal exports.

“Jamaica has a very long history and very well respected name in the community for producing high-quality marijuana products,” said Blaine Dowdle, chief executive officer of Ontario-based MedCannAccess, which is on track to become a licensed cannabis distributor under MMPR.

Dowdle’s interest in acquiring Jamaican pot, publicly expressed at a Cannabis Stakeholders Forum in the country, made the front page of one major Kingston newspaper earlier this year.

With outdoor growing conditions, which are less expensive when compared to the costs of lighting and ventilation for indoor growers in Canada, and the availability of unique strains, he said the island could “fill a need” in the $1.3 billion Canadian market Health Canada anticipates.

The new Canadian regulations will also offer a streamlined system for growing and distributing marijuana, and many business are in the final stages of preparation, finalizing financing, preparing warehouses and sourcing product.

A new source of tax revenues would be a boon to Jamaica’s $20 billion (U.S.) debt, said University of the West Indies economics professor Andre Haughton.

“Whether tourists come here, or the medicines are supplied abroad, we’d be paid for this in foreign currency which will help to increase our foreign currency inflow,” he explained. “There would be more economic activity and over time livelihoods of people will improve. This would be a big economic turnaround for us.”

The focus, though, would not be the “high grade” marijuana Jamaican musicians and sacrament-taking Rastafarians talk about. It appears the strains with more Cannabidiol (the plant’s major non-psychoactive component) than Tetrahydrocannabinol (the ingredient that makes users high) offer the most therapeutic potential.

Also, the war on drugs decimated many of the country’s indigenous plants, so growers have turned to seeds with shorter flowering cycles procured from the Netherlands.

“The strains that are in Jamaica now have tended to become more like the Dutch ones: they’re shorter, they’re squatter, they grow quicker because the government down there has been quite diligent in trying to chop down people’s crops,” said Dowdle.

But despite its reputation, cannabis from Jamaica and other foreign countries may be a tough sell.

While a couple of licensed Canadian distributors are approved to import either seedlings or dried cannabis from Israel and the Netherlands, others are satisfied with the homegrown version.

“I don’t personally have a lot of faith in the outdoor production for medicinal purposes,” said Mark Gobuty, chief executive officer of the Ontario-based Peace Naturals Project.

“The regulator has put very high standards and conditions on us. We have to be free from mould, fungus, bacteria, and it’s very difficult, the bacteria comes from pests, bugs.

“I’m sure as this evolves and matures and professionalism comes in that may be a possibility, but it’s multiple years before anybody (new) can have a standardized quality that would be exportable and importable.”

Jamaicans, meanwhile, are readying themselves for the possibilities. The government has said decriminalization could become a reality this year, along with approval for medicinal exports.

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Jamaican-born, Toronto-based lawyer Courtney Betty, who has been consulting with the Ganja Future Growers and Producers Association, encouraged MedCann’s Dowdle to attend the Jamaica conference in January.

Besides exports, Betty sees vast opportunities for medical tourism and research, from wellness spas to clinical trials.

“It’s not just the concept of ‘Hey, we’ve got really good marijuana, let’s go out and sell it.’ There could be local doctors conducting research . . . working with companies like MedCannAccess to see how they can benefit from the product that’s in Jamaica, along with the work that’s already been done.”