Jamaica: CLA says pre-storm harvest kept licensed supply stocked

As of 5 August 2026, the Cannabis Licensing Authority says Jamaica’s licensed cannabis supply never ran short after Hurricane Melissa, because most mature crops came off the field before the storm did.

Chief Executive Officer Farrah Blake told the Jamaica Observer’s Monday Exchange that the Authority issued emergency harvesting and field management protocols ahead of the Category 5 landfall on 28 October 2025. Melissa struck Trelawny and Westmoreland, two of the country’s main cultivation parishes. Licensed growers who followed the protocols harvested early and earned income from the crop before the storm arrived.

The Authority was direct about the limits of what it can offer. “We do not have the resources to provide grants,” Blake said. “What we provide is technical assistance to help cultivators mitigate the impact of these events before they occur.” Public relations manager Simoy Brown said the pre-storm guidance reduced the extent of the damage. Both pointed to Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Rafael in 2024 as the events that shaped the approach.

The claim is narrower than it first reads. Licensed cultivation still took losses. The Kaya Group lost six greenhouses, and its head said 2025 production would have run 55% higher without Melissa, per figures the Authority reported in April. Outside the licensed system, supply did tighten: the Jamaica Star reported in December 2025 that street ganja had become scarce while western farms worked to restock.

What This Means

If you visited Jamaica between November and now, you were most likely buying stock harvested before the hurricane rather than after it. Licensed herb houses draw from cultivators permitted under the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015, and that supply chain is what Blake is describing. The tourist path is unchanged: roughly US$10 for a temporary medical authorization at a licensed herb house, then buy on the spot.

The gap worth knowing is between the licensed shelf and everything else. Informal supply in the west has taken longer to come back, which is one more reason to buy where the product is tracked. What to watch is the Authority’s next production report. Output reached 13,136 kilograms in 2025, a storm year. Whether the 2026 figures show the licensed base growing or merely holding will say more about the pre-storm harvest strategy than one season can.