Short report
Farming medical ganja in Jamaica

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.03.011Get rights and content

Introduction

In early 2015 the Jamaican parliament passed the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act (DDAA) (Ministry of Justice, 2015) with several significant changes to the existing legislation and is intended to “provide for the modification of penalties or possession of ganja in specified small quantities and the smoking of ganja in specified circumstances, and for a scheme of licences, permits and other authorisations for medical, therapeutic or scientific purposes”.

During the consultation period prior to the introduction of the DDAA the government repeatedly emphasised support for the small farmer and they will be able to apply for a licence to grow up to 1 acre of ganja. The DDAA also makes provisions for the granting of licences and permits to enable the establishment of a regulated industry for the processing of ganja for medical, therapeutic and scientific uses. The DDAA therefore offers an opportunity to enfranchise small subsistence farmers and allows the government to derive significant new income streams based on the licence fees and taxation payable by growers, processors and patients. Additionally the Jamaican government has identified medical tourism including therapeutic treatments as a new market segment with as yet little competition.

This study set out to investigate the opinions of ganja farmers currently growing illegally about their background and experience, production and postharvest processes, markets and market price, and their views of, response to and level of engagement with the new legal medical ganja scheme prior to its introduction.

Section snippets

Methods

Initial contact with the ganja farmers was made by attending government and national grow association conferences and meetings in Kingston, attending local grow association meetings and through social and personal contacts. Personal contacts included a 35-year relationship with a St. Elizabeth born and bred now UK resident involved in ganja cultivation and distribution.

The convenience sample of 17 participants were from the parishes of St. Elizabeth, Manchester, Trelawny and Westmoreland, with

Characteristics of farms and farmers

This study found that all of the farmers grew outdoors, all were afro-Caribbean, male, subsistence farmers, secondary school educated, grew to make money, accepted the risk of detection as an occupational hazard and had grown throughout their lives. Unlike growers in the US the Jamaican farmers are very much full-time professionals often working in their fields 7 days a week with most in addition to ganja growing small crops of ‘grabba’ (tobacco), keeping or looking after goats or cows but

Discussion

The study examined the opinions of ganja farmers currently growing illegally about production and postharvest practices and their views of, response to and level of engagement with the new scheme.

In Jamaica the focus has been on licencing and the pre-harvest processes and little is known yet of the post-harvest supply chain including testing, certification, packaging and distribution. Although the Jamaican government has held numerous consultation meetings across the island with senior

Conclusion

In the short time-span before the new scheme is introduced the farmers need information and advice to increase their engagement and help them prepare for the new market requirements for the production of single strain seedless ganja and a new post-harvest supply chain including testing, certification, packaging, logistics and distribution.

An integrated approach by the Jamaican government could create an enabling environment to support the rapid, structured and systematic introduction of the new

Conflict of interest statement

None.

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