ST ANDREW, Jamaica — The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus is expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ganja Growers and Producers Association as a prospective partner in the growing of ganja.

The signing is scheduled for Friday at UWI at 12:00 pm.

On Monday, UWI was granted a licence by the Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell, which permits the Mona campus to engage independent contractors or other approved bodies in the growing of Cannabis Plants for the purpose of conducting research.

Under the provisions of a ministerial order issued by Paulwell recently, in keeping with the Dangerous Drugs Act, the UWI, Mona, as well as the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) are now licensed to grow ganja for research purposes.

The amendment to the ‘Ganja Law’ took effect last Wednesday. The ‘Ganja Law’ or Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2015 was passed by both Houses of Parliament in February this year.