Annette J. Henry, JP
General Legal Practice & Specialize in Regulatory and Cannabis Industry related matters.
Ms. Annette Henry was the first Director of Licensing & Applications at the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) in Jamaica. She is an Attorney-at-Law of over seventeen (17) years at the Jamaican Bar with over twelve (12) years’ experience in the licensing and regulatory environment. She is also admitted to the Bar as a Barrister-at-Law and Solicitor of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Ms. Henry is currently practising at the private bar. She is also the Chairperson for a Caribbean Working Group known as the Fairtrade Cannabis Working Group, formed in 2019.
She has extensive knowledge of the laws, conventions, and processes relative to the local Cannabis Industry, as well as the Cannabis Industry globally. Ms. Henry has served at both the public and private bar.
Ms. Henry played a seminal role at the Cannabis Licensing Authority in developing the framework and process flow and functioning of the entity for the receipt and processing of applications, as well as the issuance of licences within the context of the legal framework and international obligations. She represented Jamaica at numerous cannabis forums and meetings locally and internationally, and has made several presentations on the legal and regulatory areas of the cannabis industry. Ms. Henry recently provided consultancy to the Government of Barbados through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for the operationalization of their Medicinal Cannabis Licensing Authority.
She was Jamaica’s Representative to the Sixty-one Session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in 2018, and Technical and Legal Advisor at the Sixty-second Session in 2019. She has been a panelist on several side-events hosted during the sessions of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Ms. Henry also represented Jamaica at several workshops and dialogues organized by COPOLAD (Cooperation Programme between Latin America, Caribbean, and European Union on Drug Policies).
In addition, Ms. Henry served as Jamaica’s Legal Advisor to CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), an organ of CARICOM in matters relating to intra-regional trade disputes occasioned by standards specifications and to the Chairman and Council of the CROSQ on matters relating to its strategic direction and compliance with local, regional, and international requirements