Ganja use in Jamaica today

At dinner today at the table with poet and lecturer Bobby Gonzalez and other students, the subject of Rastafarians in modern-day Jamaica was discussed. The lawrentian next to me was Jamaican herself and mentioned a few comments about the role of the Rastafarian of today, from a personal societal viewpoint. She (I didn’t catch her name) was chatting about her life in rural Jamaica. Her accent was also what I would consider very Jamaican, but she says her real Jamaican accent is very thick, not understandable by even her Irish father. If we wanted to see a movie that most accurately pictured Jamaica, she recommended “One Love,” and discouraged “Cool Runnings” because their accents were “fake.”

The religion she identified herself as was Christian and on a few and unpleasant occasions attended Moravian church with her aunt, where people were “touchy” and “dancing like they were possessed by spirits.” A large percentage of Moravians, a little known sect of Christianity, commune in Jamaica, along with many other minor religions. To me, that community practice sounds similar to the shaking of dreadlocks ritual in Rastafarianism to release spirits.

I was hoping that she would say something about Rastafarians. Finally, when talking about relationships between a Christian and a Rastafarian she described them as “lazy,” which caught my attention. Seeing a Rasta is taboo. I asked her about what else Jamaican people think about Rastafarians. They still are against the legalizing system and frequently are willingly arrested if caught with possession of ganja. I researched briefly about the current state of drugs possession, specifically ganja to find that the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act made marijuana illegal. As of 2003, ganja is still illegal in Jamaica because of the “Ganja Commission.” The Jamaican Government is afraid of losing anti-drug certification form the United States. However, even though ganja use is prohibited, ganja is still used by Rastafarians. In this video, Bob Marley talks with a real Rasta accent about the importance of herb and what the “baldheads” don’t understand. Even children as young as eight to ten years old begin using, mentioned Mr. Gonzalez.





At the site above, Ethan Russo presents a statement that a study has found that women Rastafarians using cannabis while pregnant not only allowed to treat for morning sickness, but that their babies were born healthy, along with some other interesting facts that strengthen the argument for ganja use in Rastafarianism (in a political sense). Mr. Gonzalez also noted how Jamaicans are such great workers, like the Amish, in community projects, and tried to find out why. I wondered why the girl next to me viewed Rastafarians as “lazy.” The Rasta way of life has some influence to organization and from a quote by Mr. Russo that “stamina is increased with use of cannabis” from the study Working Men and Ganja. As quoted by Edmonds on page 81 that columnist Clinton Parchment of an attitude of the Rastas as “”lazy, dirty, violent and lawless scoundrels mouthing religious phrases to cover up their aversion to work and their ill habits’ as a response to social unrest in the dominant classes and civil authorities of Jamaica. Bob Marley speaks on Rasta’s behalf; “Herb is a plant,” continuing with, “why do governments say to not use the herb?” To the government, the herb makes the people “rebel.” “Against what,” Marley says.