KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) – Jamaica is running out of ganja.
Heavy rains followed by a prolonged drought, an increase in local consumption and a drop in the number of marijuana producers have caused a shortage in the famous but largely illegal market on the island, which experts say is the worst they have ever seen.
“It’s a cultural shame,” said Triston Thompson, chief opportunity scout at Tacaya, a consulting firm and broker for the country’s nascent legal cannabis industry.
Jamaica, which foreigners have long associated with marijuana, reggae and rastafari, authorized a regulated medical marijuana industry and decriminalized small amounts of marijuana in 2015.
People caught with 2 ounces (56 grams) or less of cannabis must pay a small fine and face no prison or criminal record. The island also allows individuals to grow up to five plants, and Rastafarians are legally allowed to smoke ganja for sacramental purposes.
But enforcement is irregular, as many tourists and residents continue to buy marijuana on the streets, where it has become scarcer – and more expensive.
Heavy rains during last year’s hurricane season hit marijuana fields that were later burned in the ensuing drought, causing tens of thousands of dollars in losses, according to farmers who grow marijuana outside the legal system.
“It destroyed everything,” said Daneyel Bozra, who grows marijuana in southwestern Jamaica, in a historic village called Accompong, founded by runaway slaves from the 18th century known as Maroons.
To make matters worse, there were strict COVID-19 measures, including a 6 pm curfew, which meant farmers were unable to take care of their fields at night, as is routine, said Kenrick Wallace, 29, who grows 2 acres (almost a hectare) in Accompong with the help of 20 other farmers.
He noted that the lack of roads forces many farmers to walk to reach their fields – and then to obtain water from wells and springs. Many were unable to do these tasks at night due to the curfew.
Wallace estimated that he lost more than $ 18,000 in the past few months and grew only 300 pounds, compared to an average of 700 to 800 pounds that the group normally produces.
Activists say they believe that the pandemic and loosening of Jamaica’s marijuana laws have led to an increase in local consumption that contributed to the scarcity, even though the pandemic has hampered the arrival of tourists in search of ganja.
“Last year was the worst year. … We have never had so many losses, ”said Thompson. “It is so ridiculous that cannabis is scarce in Jamaica.”
Tourists also noticed, posting on travel sites about the difficulties in finding the drug.
Paul Burke, CEO of the Ganja Growers and Producers Association of Jamaica, said in a telephone interview that people are no longer afraid of being arrested now that the government allows small amounts to be owned. He said stigmatization against ganja has eased and more people are enjoying its alleged therapeutic and medicinal value during the pandemic.
Burke also said that some small traditional farmers have stopped growing in frustration because they are unable to meet the requirements of the legal market, while the police continue to destroy what he described as “good ganja fields”.
The government’s Cannabis Licensing Authority – which authorized 29 growers and issued 73 licenses for transportation, retail, processing and other activities – said there was no shortage of marijuana in the regulated industry. But farmers and activists say the weed sold in legal dispensaries known as herbaria is out of reach for many, as it still costs five to ten times more than marijuana on the streets.
___
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.