Students at Ocho Rios Primary School fell ill on Monday after consuming this candy laced with ganja.
.png)
00:00
00:00
00:00
Vicky Hanson, Regional Coordinator for the Fair Trade Cannabis Working Group
By Kimone Witter
Regional association, the Fair Trade Cannabis Working Group is supporting the call for the Cannabis Licensing Authority and the Ministry of Health to speedily implement regulations for ganja edibles and packaging.
The call came from the Ganja Growers and Producers Association of Jamaica (GGPAJ) following Monday's incident at Ocho Rios Primary School where 65 children fell ill after consuming sweets laced with ganja, purchased from a vendor.
The Minister of Health has said the sweets, which were clearly labelled as containing THC, entered the country illegally.
THC is a chemical substance found in ganja that can seriously impair bodily and brain function.
Speaking Thursday on TVJ's Smile Jamaica, Regional Coordinator for the Fair Trade Cannabis Working Group, Vicky Hanson, said the government and stakeholders need to get ahead of the game, because ganja edibles are being sold in the country.
"What is being showcased now, it's out there and has always been there. I think the challenge now that we have somewhat of a decriminalised framework, persons do not understand the rules and regulations surrounding the framework, and so it's now more open in its access," she said.
Ms. Hanson said the Fair Trade Cannabis Working Group wants to be part of the discussion as well as a public education programme.
The Ganja Growers and Producers Association of Jamaica has also suggested a partnership to develop and implement a public education programme on responsible cannabis use by adults and prevention of use by minors.
In the meantime, Ms Hanson said standards for packaging of ganja products and removing their accessibility by children must be a priority.
But she reiterated that there must be greater public education as it appears vendors at Ocho Rios Primary who observed the children being sold the sweets, were not immediately alert to the THC ingredient clearly displayed on the front of the packaging.
"Being labelled persons didn't understand what THC is. And how it was labelled, this is very attractive to children. And so we need to have some standards regarding packaging, the accessibility of it. Children should not be able to just tear this package open and access the product. So that's one element we have to look at."
"In the other element in terms of how you deal with packaging and labelling, that's something we, the licence producers, the GGPAJ, Bureau of Standards have been looking at in terms of packaging rules and how we also put on the label what it is for, who should access it and where it is dispensed."
All feeds
