Cabinet has approved revision of the Dangerous Drugs Act for the decriminalization of ganja for medicinal, religious, and private/personal use. The proposed changes will facilitate ganja being used for therapeutic purposes, as prescribed by a registered practitioner, or for scientific research conducted by an accredited tertiary institution or otherwise approved by the Scientific Research Council (SRC). The changes will also...

The Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining is consulting with the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) to determine the extent of the agency’s authority to ensure that all telephone service providers adhere to the May 2015 timeline for number portability implementation. “LIME (telecom service provider) hasn’t been able to give us a date as yet for when they can...

Technical Specialist at Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), Donna Newman, says the Government has “revised and revamped” how General Consumption Tax (GCT) is applied to imported services. Resident tax payers will now be required to pay GCT on any service that would normally be taxable if it was supplied locally. Ms. Newman, who was addressing a recent JIS ‘Think Tank’, explained...

The Burnt Savannah Primary School, formerly the Burnt Savannah All Age School, in St. Elizabeth, has accomplished the enviable achievement of shaping young minds, for 100 years. The school has been in operation since 1914, when the Government of Jamaica constructed the first building for the institution, to accommodate students who received their tutoring at the Baptist and Methodist churches...

Jamaica is now one of 40 countries across the world to have ratified the Arms Trade Treaty, which was opened for signatures at the United Nations in New York last June. Jamaica joined St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Burkino Faso, Samoa, Australia, Austria, Belgium, and Luxemburg in ratifying the Treaty at a special ceremony on June 3 at the UN...

The Office of the Children’s Registry (OCR) will, this summer, launch a new project to reach parents, called ‘Pon the Corner Reasoning’. “The OCR team will go into communities, identified from data we collect, to have street corner reasoning sessions with our parents, with a view to change the way we treat our children during the summer and in preparation...

Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment, Hon. Damion Crawford, is proposing that a mandatory pension system be established in a bid to offset expenses at retirement for Jamaicans. He bemoaned that decades of tax incentives on pension savings have failed to encourage Jamaicans to save for retirement. “Enticement does not work, Jamaicans need a push.  Privatized,...