Locals To Have A Stake In Cannabis Sector – Cannabis & Hemp – Barbados – Mondaq News Alerts

Barbados: Locals To Have A Stake In Cannabis Sector

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Officials are said to be considering ways of raising funds
through the Barbados Stock Exchange (BSE) to help fund development
and innovation in the burgeoning medicinal cannabis industry.

Word of this has come from Shantal Munro-Knight, Chief Executive
Officer of the Barbados Medicinal Cannabis Licensing Authority
(BMCLA), who said every effort was being made to ensure that locals
have a major stake in the industry.

Munro-Knight opted not to say what mechanisms were being
considered for raising funds through the BSE, but added that
critical to the growth of the medical cannabis industry was the
creation of strategic linkages and innovation.

„One of the proposals that has come before us is for
raising financing through a stock exchange mechanism. I won’t
speak to that definitively because that is under consideration, but
just to signal that our intent is as much as possible to facilitate
innovation in the industry and create as much critical linkages and
make sure there are benefits right across the spectrum for
Barbadians,” Munro-Knight told journalists in an online media
conference recently.

Stating that there were opportunities for individuals to get
involved in the industry indirectly, including in retail and
distribution, she said one linkage that had tremendous potential
was that between the medicinal cannabis industry and health and
wellness tourism.

„Certainly, I think there is tremendous potential for this
industry to really contribute nationally, not only in the context
of just fees from licences, but the potential for jobs and the
potential that this industry has to touch so many different areas
even in the area of tourism,” she said.

„There are a number of initiatives that we want to be able
to explore to create those linkages with the tourism sector as
well. So there are lots of potential there for even people who do
not want to touch the plant and don’t necessarily want to get
involved directly in a licensed application,” she
explained.

Meanwhile, Programme Administrator of the BMCLA Shanika
Roberts-Odle said the agency was making it as seamless as possible
for individuals to get involved, pointing out that there was now a
fully online application process.

„What that means is that we have developed an online
application form where you can go on and complete your application
at your leisure and you can save it for later. We send you a code
and when you decide to come back on you [complete] your application
. . . You then also upload all the additional documents we ask you
for,” she explained.

„Further to that, we have also worked through with the
Ministry of Innovation Science and Smart Technology (MIST) so that
you can pay your application fee via EasyPay and you can also pay
your licence fees via Easypay,” she said, adding that once the
application process is complete individuals and businesses are
updated periodically on the status of those applications.

In addition to a raft of critical information on the industry,
the bmcla.bb portal also provides an online „concierge
desk”, where individuals are able to get help from
officials.

Previously published 29 Jan, 2021.

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