27 June 2019
The Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture, Senator Lyndon Farnham, has attended the Cannabis Europa medicinal cannabis conference in London this week.
The Minister, who was joined on the visit by environment and economy officers, took part in the conference to show Jersey’s intentions to develop a medicinal cannabis industry, and to keep up to date with the latest developments in the sector.
Senator Farnham said: “Jersey offers distinct advantages over other jurisdictions to companies wishing to engage in the cultivation, processing, and extraction of pharmaceutical precursors from cannabis.
“We wish to position ourselves as a centre of excellence in production, research, genetics and intellectual property in the sector, and attending events like Cannabis Europa gives us the perfect opportunity to network and to make our intentions known.”
Delegates from around the world took part in the conference, which focused on the benefits of using hemp and cannabis for medicinal and industrial purposes.
Jersey is currently in the process of assessing applications from local companies to produce hemp and cannabis. The crop could be produced in the island for a number of uses, ranging from fibre, oil and nutrition supplements to cannabis extract for use in the pharmaceutical industry.
Scott Meadows, Head of Plant Health and lead officer for Jersey’s Alternative Crop Strategy, said: “This is an interesting and exciting activity for Jersey. Cultivation and secondary processing of pharmaceutical crops will provide high value, low volume export products, broaden our cropping portfolio and create skilled high value jobs.”
George McBride, co-founder of Hanway Associates and Cannabis Europa said: “It is exciting to see Jersey taking such a proactive stance towards developing a regulated medical cannabis industry. Jersey has a number of competitive advantages which make it well placed to become a hub for the global cannabis industry.”
gov.je