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.

The post Growing Ganja in Jamaica appeared first on High Times.

The post Growing Ganja in Jamaica appeared first on Paradise Found.

On Aug. 10, the V.I. Cannabis Advisory Board (VICAB) in the U.S. Virgin Islands unanimously approved draft regulations for its medical cannabis program. On Aug. 12, the Office of Cannabis Regulations posted the draft publicly, and it will remain online for a 30-day public comment window that ends on Sept. 11. In addition to this, a meeting is set to be held in person on Aug. 31 as well.

According to the current draft, licenses will soon become available over the next three months, with cultivation licenses beginning on Oct. 3, research and development licenses on Oct. 26, manufacturing licenses on Dec. 5, and finally dispensary licenses on Dec. 27. Laboratory services request proposals will also open up on Oct. 12, with physician registration on Nov. 3, and patient registration on Dec. 14. All of the licenses will be open for 30 days after the start date, and once reviewed and scored, the results of any applicants that reach a score of 80% or more will be posted publicly.

Competition is fierce though, as the St. Thomas district is allowed to have eight level-one cultivation licenses, St. John will allow four, and St. Croix will allow one. However, this could be subject to change, as Executive Director Hannah Carty shared in March that “the exact number of licenses to be released on an annual basis will be determined by the Cannabis Advisory Board. They shall not release licenses that supersede the amounts allowed by 19 V.I. Code; Chapter 34,” Carty said.

VICAB was seeking to adopt a lottery system among qualifying license applicants, but V.I. Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Richard Evangelista, among others, opposed the idea. “The lottery system seems like it’s a duplicative effort and I don’t think it should be a lottery, I think it should be based on merit, as long as we have a valid, fair scoresheet,” said Evangelista. “I think it should be based on merit, not merit and a lottery.” The rules were amended to use a lottery only in the event of a tie.

The VICAB is operating on a one-time loan of $500,000 from the Office of Management & Budget. After two years, the department must fully fund itself through the fees it collects.

According to Agriculture Commissioner Positive Nelson, the timeline requires swift action. “The longer it takes to start the program, the longer it’s gonna take to generate the revenue to sustain itself, so that’s part of the hiccup right there, and we may have to ask for additional time from the Legislature if we don’t get to start up real soon,” Nelson said.

In response, Chairman Dr. Catherine Kean shared a message for viewers to provide insight into why the program has taken such a long time to put together. “I think we want the general public to realize that we never anticipated it taking this long to roll out,” said Kean. “All of the obstacles we encountered along the way, whether they were real obstacles or perceived to be obstacles…the last three years have been very trying. So, the $500,000 that we have been willing to pay back, I guess we have been whittling away at that to some degree. We’re just trying to really move forward. Once we get the rules and regulations out there, and utilizing this strategic plan, I think we can try and turn the corner so we can actually start to accrue some funding back once we get the licenses out.”

Voters in the Virgin Islands approved medical cannabis in 2014; legislators passed the Medical Cannabis Patient Care Act in 2018; and Gov. Albert Bryan signed the act into law in 2019. The VICAB held its first meeting in January 2020, and now two years later, the U.S. Virgin Islands is moving one step closer to the implementation of its program.

According to the St. Thomas Source, the program rules were supposed to be developed within 120 days of the act being signed by Gov. Bryan, but there was a delay when a new executive director was being sought out. Eventually, Hannah Carty was appointed the position in September 2021.

“Essentially this person is going to be, a play on words, the cultivator of the cannabis advisory board,” said Evangelista in September. “They are now tasked with running the Office of Cannabis Regulation. They are going to be our liaison to the actual office that is going to be charged with this; we just have oversight responsibility. They are going to be tasked with making sure the rules and regulations are being published, public comment is permitted and that is why it was integral to the process that we get a director on board.”

The post Draft Rules Published for U.S. Virgin Islands Medical Cannabis Program appeared first on High Times.

The post Draft Rules Published for U.S. Virgin Islands Medical Cannabis Program appeared first on Paradise Found.