Jamaica rises up from Kaya Herb House with the help of Bali Vaswani

Although cannabis has long been widely available in Jamaica, Kaya Herb House was the first regulated medicinal cannabis dispensary to open not only in Jamaica but in the Caribbean – with its own flower and concentrates.

This is thanks to Jamaica’s transformation in cannabis reform, reflected in the rapid changes in legislation over the last few years.

On February 24, 2015, Jamaica’s legislature voted to drastically change the country’s cannabis laws – making possession of up to two ounces a petty offence, establishing a licensing agency and a medical cannabis system. Cultivation of five plants or fewer is permitted, and Rastafari practitioners can use cannabis for religious purposes – the first country to officially recognize the use of cannabis for this reason.

It was historic in that for decades Rastafarians fought in vain for the religious right to smoke herbs — such as when former Attorney General Janet Reno denied American Rastafarians the right to do so in 1998.

Courtesy of Kaya Herb House

The new legislative changes allow the company to thrive. Kaya Herb House’s sister companies, Kaya Farms, Kaya Spa, Kaya Café, and Kaya Tours, are a testament to how much the business has expanded—both vertically and geographically.

Kaya Farms announced its first legal crop on February 20, 2018 to be grown in Drax Hall, St. Ann and sold at the Kaya Herb House. (Timeless Herbal Care also competed for that title and released a crop during the same period.) Kaya Herb House was both the leader in quality cannabis on the island and a major source of education about the plant.

Kaya Herb House Chief Ganja Officer Balram “Bali” Vaswani was born in Jamaica and witnessed legendary strains dating back to the 1970s like Lamb’s Bread at an early age.

His team follows the strict rules of the Jamaican Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) and were indeed spot checked during our call. But he says the state systems in the US prepared him well for Jamaica’s regulated industry.

“I was there, you know, I was in Colorado around 2011 and I had the opportunity to see medicine shifting into the recreational sector and found it so interesting to be in one place and watch it happen,” Vaswani tells High Times.

After seeing how the framework works in Colorado, Vaswani decided to get involved in shaping the licensing process in his own country as the people of Jamaica were committed to moving towards the same agenda. “Both governments in 2015 were bipartisan, which means they both sort of approved it and it went to Parliament, but the law never really changed. And there was milestone activity,” he says.

Bali with Chalice / Courtesy of Kaya Herb House

Vaswani says all of Jamaica’s legislative changes were driven by an incident – a clear example of injustice – involving a young man who died in prison for smoking a joint.

Mario Deane was arrested in February 2014 for possession of a single spliff (joint) and tragically beaten to death in his cell at Barnett Street Police Station in Montego Bay. Anyone who’s been to Montego Bay, including myself, knows how rampant weed is there, which makes it even more annoying. Police claim he was brutally beaten to death by cellmates Marvin Orr and Adrian Morgan, but his family and friends suspect police foul play may be the real reason.

“I think the date was Friday February 2nd and he died in prison on Sunday – for a joint,” laments Vaswani. “And that triggered it [action] because it was already in Parliament on February 5th, went straight into Parliament with the riots and stuff that said it’s ridiculous that we’ve come this far and we’re still, you know, still being brutalized. And coincidentally, on February 6, 2015, the law was amended and enacted and decriminalized. And the Government said: “We will enact on the basis of anyone’s rules and regulations under the UN treaty that we will decriminalize and enable research and development until we legislate on what the Cannabis Licensing Authority would do.”

Vaswani was one of the first to enter the program early and overcame all odds. In 2015, he founded Ganja Labs LLC, which operates legal cannabis at the University of Technology, Jamaica at Kingston, under the direction of the Secretary of Science, Energy and Technology, Dr. Andrew Wheatley, granted UTech medical cannabis research license.

“I was lucky enough to get one, the exclusive one with the University of Technology, [Jamaica] in 2015. So we got that in May 2015 and broke ground in November,” he says. “And then in 2016 we had the first harvest or legal harvest in Jamaica, but only for research and development.”

In 2016, Vaswani told Rolling Stone how he shared the first crop with his longtime friend Rohan Marley, son of Bob Marley. The two have set several business goals.

The law change was a significant time because they could get genetics, the software, and they could teach people how to clone plants. Vaswani said that in a regulated industry there is a learning curve and you realize how much you have to do on a daily basis.

On March 10, 2018 – the first legal sale in the Caribbean – Bali commemorates up to 5,000 people queuing in front of the dispensary to buy medicinal cannabis. He remembers celebrating because from that day on you could legally buy cannabis with a receipt, with a medical card – instead of out of a backpack from vendors on the beach or elsewhere.

Opening in Kingston / Courtesy of Kaya Herb House

“And the only difference between the laws in the US and Jamaica on the medical side is that we don’t have any edibles at all, but all the other components in terms of rosin, resin, hash oils and so on are all there, but yeah [the] The Ministry of Health has not accepted the edibles.”

One location is in front of the cruise terminal, about 30 minutes from Montego Bay. Then there’s another location two minutes from Bob Marley’s house and across the street from TGI Fridays in the heart of Kingston. In 2019 Kaya Herb House conducted their first export of oils and last year during COVID they sent their first export of flowers to Australia. “We’re not really an MSO, but more of an international company than a multi-state operator. And you know, just to spread our wings, we said, “How can we keep expanding?” So we launched our first franchise in December 2020 during COVID.”

Vaswani explained that they have a smoking room and offer a lot of education because they didn’t really have the diversity in Jamaica that you have in the US. “Our gum was finger gum that came off your finger, not really full of hash, you know,” says Vaswani. “They didn’t have fresh clothes and they didn’t have kief, so little by little, you know, we brought up a bigger thing.”

The pharmacy experience at his stores was very different from what you might see in the US, Vaswani says.

“In Colorado, we’re trying to get people out between 45 seconds and a minute and a half per transaction,” he says. “Our typical transaction, our stores, for about an hour and a half, they come in … they hit a dab, they maybe go for an espresso. So they could have pizza. So people could share, they could go back in and just get something different. And they’re kind of on the way. And sometimes we see people three times a day.”

The Kaya Herb House plans to build its next location at Blue Mountain, which is 4.5,000 feet high, as their first entry into “wellness.”

Vaswanis reminds us that psilocybin mushrooms are legal and available to buy in Jamaica.

“Our mushrooms are functional and psychoactive, you know, that would be available at our new location. Imagine looking at 4,000 feet over the city and we have 4,000 acres surrounded by UNESCO World Heritage Sites, you know, so it’s a protected area. So we are, we are, we will be within the protected area of ​​the forest.”

Check out what the Kaya Herb House offers, especially if you are planning to travel to Jamaica.

kayaherbhouse.com