I co-founded a Cannabis Marketing Agency, Digital420 while traveling in Atlanta, months deep into my East Coast focused American Cannabis Industry Tour. So clearly you would think that I’m not averse to having my name associated with weed. In fact, we sent out a press release to some parts of the Caribbean and Diaspora media with the headline “Caribbean Tech Maven to a Woman in Cannabis”. But, I wasn’t always that comfortable with being associated with weed, it was how I was raised by a Jamaican mother in middle-class Jamaica and all the contradictions that those five words will conjure in your mind right now.
Jamaica has always been synonymous with weed globally- with icon status both culturally and regarding cultivation. In Jamaican middle-class content, however, Ganja was associated with “those people”, “those dirty rastas, “those idle people’ – the hypocrisy and ignorance was real, then when you add to that, the War on Drugs and that Just Say No bullshit of an American Campaign, you can see why I was kinda late to the Cannabis Party. Well sort of.
You see my first introduction to Cannabis was, in fact, my mother. She gave me ganja tea when I was sick with whooping cough, as a baby. She said that she believed it saved my life. She told me this when I was in my 20s. The perfect time, as I was experimenting with my friends at that time and that was shortlived, as I didn’t like how it made me feel and made me eat. So I kinda left it alone.
In my early 20s, I had my other run in with Cannabis. This time as a young investigative reporter at the then newspaper startup Jamaica Observer. Fresh out of college, I ended up writing what is still one of the most comprehensive pieces on Jamaica and Ganja. It was a feature with the headline “Jamaica’s multi-million dollar ganja economy” back in 1995 and it was two tabloid pages long.
It was 10 years after what was called the Reagan/Seaga agreement: “Ronald Reagan has extracted a promise from Edward Seaga (his first official visitor at the White House in 1981) to eliminate the export of marijuana. Over $5 million in military aid has been promised for 1985, and an increasing portion of nearly $80 million in economic and development aid is being allocated to anti-drug programs. Naval, air and radar surveillance has been increased, and the Jamaican police have allegedly placed informants on resort beaches. Sources say the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration will be increasing its assistance to Jamaica this year. Plans even include the development of anti-ganja paramilitary raiding teams.” Source Washington Post
It was a follow up to this: “In 1974-75, under Prime Minister Michael Manley, the government launched “Operation Buccaneer,” an ambitious effort to destroy marijuana acreage and shut down clandestine airstrips. According to the House report, “this dramatically curtailed the production and traffic of marijuana for several years.” By the late 1970s, however, the Manley government was in deep political and economic trouble, and the drug program was dropped. By 1980, production returned to previous levels.” Source Washington Post
My report, in 1995 was a check in on another round of Operation Buccaneer – which eradicated 821 acres of Jamaican ganja, that was valued back then, at between US$97.6 million to US$101.6 million dollars. My weeks of research, data gathering and analysis, revealed among other things, a top 14 of our parishes that was growing the most ganja then.
Jamaica has 14 parishes, these were the ones producing the most ganja in 1995.
1.St Elizabeth
2. Westmoreland
3. St Ann
4. St Catherine
5. Manchester
6. Hanover
7. St James
8. St Mary
9. St Thomas
10. Clarendon
11. Trelawny
12. St Andrew
13. Portland
14. Kingston
I wonder what the ranking would be right now, since we decriminalised in 2015 and the Legal Jamaican Cannabis Industry is about to go boom. I think I’m going to do an updated version of that article this year.
And then, my other connection to Cannabis which really was a turnaround for me, was when my friend Tandra, brought me a spliff to help to relieve my menstrual cramps. It worked and also put me to sleep. I was sold and that was about 12 years ago and that made me sit up and become somewhat of a curious student of Cannabis and its medicinal benefits. It made me immediately set aside the propaganda I was fed by and the familial and societal hypocrisies I was raised with.
Yet still, even as I had this idea to take all of the knowledge, skill and networks that I had development in my 14 years in the Tech/Digital space to the Cannabis space since 2015/2016, with my Cannabis Marketing Agency, I didn’t get into ” Ahh fuck it, fuck what people may think, I’m just going to do it” mental space until 2019.
But I always say, everything in its own time, with ease, grace and joy. Now I’m based between New York and Jamaica and focused on growing the Cannabis Marketing Agency business in the Caribbean USA and Canada and happily sharing my personal Cannabis stories, especially with women, about me using different strains help with insomnia and menstrual pain, in addition to seeing how CBD dominant strains and oils help me as well.
So there, I’m finally out of the Kush Closet, here endeth my Cannabis Confession. :-). I hope this serves to help others come out of their Kush closet also. I hope it helps educate and inspire individuals and also help to remove some of the stigma for users.