Opportunities

The medicinal cannabis industry is built to support a locally derived value chain from seed to sale.  It is intended to facilitate the value-added development of cultivated Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) medicinal cannabis strains to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) finalised cannabis products.

The value chain will have Unique Selling Points (USP) which are indigenous to Barbados.  These will be bolstered by Research and Development (R&D) efforts to develop local cultivar phenotypes from existing gene banks of cannabis seeds.  Cannabis sativa and cannabis indica cultivars locally derived by our geographic location and unique growing conditions will be considered for geographical indications.  There are local opportunities for the development of successful and globally competitive R&D, direct and indirect related cannabis businesses to support the local value chain. These will be bolstered by the islands' highly trained and certified workforce and by the development of an innovation system which captures all the essence of the local USP. The proposed innovation system will foster social inclusivity and equity towards the development of the local medicinal cannabis industry.

The locally derived industry will produce a Barbadian brand of locally produced medicinal cannabis products and services coined BAJCAN and create our niche in the global value chain.  While our approach will be globally competitive, the industry will be sustained locally and will integrate other industries inclusive of tourism, health, education, manufacturing and potentially alternative energy.