A Canadian company wants to preserve Jamaica's native cannabis varieties

Jamaica obviously has a strong shared history with cannabis. It was nevertheless banned for over 100 years, until its re-legalization for medical and sacramental use in 2015. The medical industry is gradually beginning to develop, and a Canadian company intends to preserve the island's native strains before they are affected by the market opening.

The Jamaica Medical Cannabis Corporation Ltd, a Canadian company exporting Jamaican cannabis, has invested 2 million dollars in partnership with the National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NFDST) to identify and catalog the landraces Jamaican.

«JMCC is fully committed to supporting the Jamaican medical cannabis industry in every possible way and ensuring sustainable benefits for the country and its people,» said Diane Scott, CEO of JMCC., to Forbes. As Jamaican medical cannabis grows in popularity, there's a real threat that the country's unique strains will be lost or irretrievably contaminated through hybridization, and it was important for us to be able to help preserve what we believe are the best medical cannabis strains in the world.«

But even with $2 million in funding, NFDST officials stated they could not pay growers for their seeds, and instead hope they will participate for the good of their country and for medical cannabis users worldwide. The two organizations will therefore try to convince local growers to donate seeds for the project. Hoping that if there is ever any profit, a portion will return to the country.