Ganja in Jamaica is more than just the cannabis plant; it’s a culture, a way of life, and an expression of people from varying cultural backgrounds who ended up on the Caribbean Island via the plantation model. The British monarchy was responsible for the cultural clash that saw enslaved Africans and indentured laborers co-mingling and participating in the smoking of ganja after a day’s work in the sugarcane plantations. This unique phenomenon gave birth to Rastafari, a religious and political movement rooted in African culture with Emperor Haile Selassie I from Ethiopia as its redeemer, the red, green, and gold colors, and the use of the chillum pipe. Furthermore, the profound impact of Indian influence on the vegan diet, the growing of dreadlocks, and the use of ganja as a sacramental herb have contributed to ganja being an endemic part of Jamaican culture.

Jamaica lies 18° north of the Equator, a tropical paradise surrounded by the Caribbean Sea where the sun shines perpetually with slight variations in photoperiod throughout the year. The island’s biogeography presents ecologically diverse habitats from high elevations to coastal plains, rainforests to dry limestone forests, and expansive freshwater ecosystems. The islanders’ symbolic love for patronizing the cannabis plant through the expression of performing arts from reggae icons like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and so many more has situated ganja synonymously with Jamaica.

The artisanal production of ganja in Jamaica represents the ingenuity of the cultivators who reside in these various microclimates throughout the island catering to a plethora of different demographics of consumers located in tourist areas on the north coast, rural townships, urban ghettos, and middle- to upper-class communities. The cultivation methods, post-harvest practices, types of genetics, pricing structure, farm sizes, and distribution method present varying disparities in quality dynamics intended for the various local markets.

Sunny Hill, St. Thomas

The lush rainforest habitat to the southern, eastern side of the island is one of the rural areas where ganja farmers tend to trek into the hills to cultivate on lands cleared to facilitate maximum sunlight throughout the day. The farmers grow genetics they have replicated in regular seed production for several generations and cultivate directly into the local soil substrate. The intended market is the local townships in the parish.

Nine Mile, St. Ann

The farming community of Nine Mile, located in the limestone hills of the parish of St. Ann Jamaica, is the birthplace and resting place of reggae superstar Bob Marley. The Bob Marley Mausoleum is situated on the property where Marley spent his formative years as a young boy growing up. The ganja farmers in this community grow an equatorial cultivar that has a long flowering time with the purpose of the collection of charas finger hash, which is primarily marketed to the consistent busloads of tourists who visit Marley’s shrine daily.

Slipe, St. Elizabeth

The community of Slipe is located on the island’s south coast in the Black River Morass, Jamaica’s largest freshwater wetland ecosystem. The ganja farmers of this community use an interesting mode of transportation—canoes—to tend to their plants daily. This community has developed a hydroponic method of cultivation where the peat from the bog is raised above the water table in long snakelike beds, and the ganja plants are cultivated densely. The seeds are germinated near households and transported as hardened seedlings by canoe through tiny channels cleared from the tall sawgrass to traverse the river. The farmers of this community typically get their germplasm from the neighboring parish of Westmoreland. The plants don’t tend to pass 4 feet in height, with seedling to harvest taking place in 10 to 12 weeks.

Orange Hill, Westmoreland

The community of Orange Hill is located on the western tip of Jamaica near the resort town of Negril. The entire parish of Westmoreland is known for some of the best high-grade ganja on the island. Residents from this western parish tend to flaunt the slogan “The best comes from the West.” The community produces strains of ganja well known to the Western world and modern-day palate with terpene profiles of fruity, gassy, and citrus flavors. The plants are grown in plastic pots or fabric bags using supplemental lighting to generate larger biomass during the vegetative growth period. On harvest day, the plants are placed in temperature- and humidity-controlled rooms to facilitate the drying process. The ganja produced in this area is known to supply the resort towns of Negril and Montego Bay, where the tourists tend to pay, on average, a higher price for the commodity.

Happy Gate, St. Andrew

Happy Gate is situated on the foothills of the Blue Mountain near the capital city of Kingston. The ganja farm is located on the steep slopes of the hillside where the warm orange rays of the sunset dip over the western horizon. The plants grown are hybrids of California origin, where supplemental lighting is used to increase biomass production for the short flowering times of these cultivars. Post-harvest rooms here and in Orange Hill are typically equipped with an air conditioning unit and a dehumidifier for drying and curing.

This article was originally published in the March 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

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A cannabis company with operations based in Jamaica announced this week that it has successfully exported cannabis-derived THC products to the United States, where they will be tested at a facility licensed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The company, Pure Jamaican and its GMP-certified, licensed pharma manufacturer Seven-10 Pharmaceuticals, said the shipment marks the first legal export of THC to the United States from Jamaica in a move that elevates the Caribbean island nation’s role in the global cannabis supply chain.

Jamaica legalized the commercial export of cannabis for medical, scientific and therapeutic purposes in 2015, although government regulations for exporting medical marijuana products were not approved until 2021. Pure Jamaican plans to take advantage of the opportunity by legally exporting proprietary pharmaceutical products with cannabis-derived THC, hemp-derived CBD and other cannabinoids to the United States, Brazil and other major markets around the world.

Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness granted permission for Seven-10 Pharmaceuticals to export cannabis-derived THC products to the United States, while the DEA issued corresponding import permits. The company then shipped the products to a DEA-licensed facility where analytic testing was successfully completed. Scott Cathcart, CEO of Pure Jamaican and Seven-10 Pharmaceuticals, said the milestone “is a proud moment for Jamaica and for our group of companies.” 

“Jamaica has long been associated with ‘ganja’ but never before in this context as a producer and legal exporter of THC as a pharmaceutical-grade medicine,” Cathcart said in a statement from the company. “As the only company in Jamaica licensed for pharmaceutical manufacturing of cannabinoids, we are proud to be leading the way to elevating the role of Jamaica in the global cannabis ecosystem.”

Shipment Comes As DEA Ponders Rescheduling

The first legal export of cannabis from Jamaica to the U.S. comes as the DEA is considering a proposal to relax restrictions on marijuana under federal law. Last summer, Rachel Levine, the Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), wrote a letter to DEA head Anne Milgram recommending that cannabis be removed from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. 

The recommendation was issued following an executive order from President Joseph Biden in October 2022 that directed the heads of the Department of Justice and HHS to review the classification of marijuana under federal law. Under the HHS recommendation, which was issued after a review of the available medical and scientific evidence, cannabis would be rescheduled under Schedule III of the CSA, a less restrictive classification than Schedule I that would ease cannabis research and likely lead to the approval of cannabis pharmaceuticals.

If the DEA approves the rescheduling, Seven-10 intends to request DEA permits to ship Pure Jamaican pharmaceutical THC products from Jamaica to patients in the US. Such shipments would be made to patients with a valid prescription and would comply with all relevant regulations from the DEA and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as state pharmacy distribution regulations.

Shullette Cox, the president of Jamaica Promotions Corp. (JAMPRO), a trade and investment promotions corporation representing the Government of Jamaica, said that “the growth of the cannabis industry for medicinal purposes has been a priority of the government of Jamaica and particularly, the export of value-added products from Jamaica. The success of Pure Jamaican and Seven-10 Pharmaceuticals is applauded as JAMPRO continues to facilitate the local medicinal cannabis industry and ensuring its role in driving the growth of exports.”

Seven-10 has already begun shipping medicinal cannabis formulations to patients in Brazil, where regulations allowing pharmacy sales of such products went into effect in 2019. Prime Jamaica noted that together, the U.S. and Brazil comprise a market totaling more than 500 million people.

“This is a labor of love and not easy,” said Dr. Ellen Campbell Grizzle, chief regulatory and compliance officer of Pure Jamaican and Seven-10 Pharmaceuticals. “Jamaica has 52 percent of the world’s medicinal plants in our small island nation, and we are very proud to be exploring ways to identify new botanical medicines to bring health, wellness, new exports and economic growth to our country.”

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The country of Antigua and Barbuda has become one of the first in the Caribbean to authorize Rastafari to grow and smoke cannabis, an herb that is considered a sacrament by followers of the religion. 

As the Associated Press reported, for decades, many Rastafari have been “been jailed and endured racial and religious profiling by law enforcement because of their marijuana use,” which they say “brings them closer to the divine.” 

Officials in Antigua and Barbuda, an island country with a population of a little more than 90,000, have now sought to rectify the situation. 

According to the Associated Press, the lifting of the ban makes the country “one of the first Caribbean nations to grant Rastafari authorization to grow and smoke their sacramental herb.”

“We’re more free now,” said Ras Tashi, a member of the Ras Freeman Foundation for the Unification of Rastafari, as quoted by the Associated Press, which reported that Tashi recently “led chants and praise in the tabernacle on the foundation’s farm located in Liberta’s lush agricultural district.”

Rastafaris have lobbied for legal cannabis in the country for years. In 2021, the Associated Press reported that adherents were “clamoring for broader relaxation to curtail persecution and ensure freedom of worship.”

The AP offered more background at the time:

“The Rastafari faith is rooted in 1930s Jamaica, growing as a response by Black people to white colonial oppression. The beliefs are a melding of Old Testament teachings and a desire to return to Africa. Rastafari followers believe the use of marijuana is directed in biblical passages and that the ‘holy herb’ induces a meditative state. The faithful smoke it as a sacrament in chalice pipes or cigarettes called ‘spliffs,’ add it to vegetarian stews and place it in fires as a burnt offering. ‘Ganja,’ as marijuana is known in Jamaica, has a long history in that country, and its arrival predates the Rastafari faith. Indentured servants from India brought the cannabis plant to the island in the 19th century, and it gained popularity as a medicinal herb.

It began to gain wider acceptance in the 1970s when Rastafari and reggae culture was popularized through music icons Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, two of the faith’s most famous exponents. Tosh’s 1976 hit ‘Legalize It’ remains a rallying cry for those pushing to make marijuana legal. Rastafari adherents in the U.S., many of them Black, say they have endured both racial and religious profiling by law enforcement agencies due to their ritualistic use of cannabis.”

The change in law in Antigua and Barbuda may lead to a similar domino effect as the one that has unfolded here over the last decade in the United States, where dozens of states and cities have lifted longstanding prohibitions on cannabis within their jurisdictions.

The Associated Press reported last week that “Rastafari elsewhere are pushing for similar religious protections,” and that experts and stakeholders “think the Antigua and Barbuda law could give a boost to these efforts worldwide at a time when public opinion and policy are continuing to shift in favor of medical and recreational marijuana use.”

Under the new law in Antigua and Barbuda, “the island government also decriminalized the use of marijuana for the general public,” according to the Associated Press, while also allowing “people outside the faith [to] grow four cannabis plants each and possess up to 15 grams.”

“We believe that we have to provide a space for everyone at the table, irrespective of their religion,” Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne told the AP. “Just as we’ve recognized other faiths, it’s absolutely important for us to also ensure that the Rastafari faith is also acknowledged … to acknowledge their constitutional right to worship and to utilize cannabis as a sacrament.”

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The Jamaican Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce recently spoke out in support of small-scale cannabis farmers. According to the Jamaica Observer, State Minister Dr. Norman Dunn, the Alternative Development Programme (ADP) is still viewed as one of the best ways to help smaller cannabis growers enter the legal industry.

“The ADP is a community-centered approach in which participating communities will be allowed to cultivate up to 10 acres of land [and] will be required to sell all of their outputs from the program to a licensed downstream buyer or authorized permit holders of the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA),” Dunn said at a 4/20 event held at Island Village in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.

Alternatively, a Cultivator’s Transitional Special Permit could also help remove barriers of entry for cultivators. Dunn described the permit as “less rigid,” and would give cultivators an opportunity to temporarily grow legally while also raising money to send an official license application to the CLA. Through the “mother farm” concept, small-scale cultivators would be allowed to partner with an already licensed cultivator to grow cannabis and then sell it to the licensed party.

“Recently, the ministry hosted a meeting of several stakeholders within the licensed regime to confer on matters relating to the industry and chart a sustainable development of this important industry,” Dunn added. “We in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce continue to meet and engage stakeholders across Jamaica from within the various communities, in academia, medical research, businesses and across government… that will advance Jamaica’s distinctive cannabis industry.”

Other government representatives such as Olivia Grange, the Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, expressed the need for regulation and modernizing the cannabis industry. With the approach that Dunn mentioned, Grange believes that they can help remove the cannabis stigma, allowing the herb to “become the foundation of a new Jamaican industry with potential to make a major contribution to the national budget.”

According to Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, there are 128 small cultivators that would be able to benefit from the mother farm concept. In March, Jamaican Sen. Aubyn Hill explained that the goal is to allow the program to begin this month in April. “When I look across Jamaica … you have people with one acre, two acres, three acres, but they don’t have the working capital. The mother farm concept allows for a big investor,” the minister explained. “So, we’re finding ways to make sure we alleviate some of the problems. We’re looking at very real ways to develop medical cannabis growth in Jamaica.”

The development of the ADP dates back to 2017. In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, CLA chairperson Hyacinth Lightbourne expressed the necessity of supporting small farmers. “If traditional farmers are excluded, then one of the fundamental reasons for developing this industry would have failed, as the program is intended to provide a legal alternative for those who traditionally cultivate illicit crops,” Lightbourne said.

While Jamaican officials are working to help small cultivators, recent news reports from March show that the country recently granted a license to a company that plans to import cannabis from Canada. The decision rallied concern from officials such as CLA rear admiral Hardley Lewin regarding the nature of the new license. “I brought this to the attention of our members and the industry,” Lewin said. “And also to the CLA; who confirmed it. I made a lot of noise about it because I am very angry that a country that does not allow Jamaican imports or exports from Jamaica into their market could be granted permission to export to Jamaica.”

In response, Minister Hill shared that the imported Canadian cannabis is not available in Jamaica. “It’s a Jamaican company…They have to follow the rules which are in legislation…The ganja strain being imported is not available in Jamaica. The permit is granted depending on the license you have. Some people have license to grow, others to test and some to retail…” Hill stated, according to the Jamaica-Gleaner.

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