Gov’t urged to make western Westmoreland a ganja free zone
Published:Tuesday | April 25, 2023 | 1:02 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
HEMP AND ganja farmers in Westmoreland have served verbal notice to launch a petition that will, among other things, call on the Government to grant official status to small farmers by declaring a cannabis free zone in the western end of that parish.
In revealing the organisation’s intention, Delroy Johnson, chairman of the Westmoreland Hemp and Ganja Farmers Association (WHGFA), encouraged Jamaicans and other stakeholders to lend their support to the initiative by signing the petition, which he says will be beneficial to indigenous ganja and hemp farmers.
“We are going to ask for a petition to the Government and we are going to set it up online for all of us to take this petition to them. All we need is for the Government to say this area is a free-zone area,” said Johnson.
The ganja advocate, who is also the managing director of MiYard Resort in West End, Negril, was speaking at a panel discussion sponsored by Wagga Weed at the parish’s Blue Hole Mineral Spring, where thousands of cannabis farmers, smokers, Rastafarians, and visitors to the island converged for the April 20 ‘4:20 Slang’ celebration. The ‘4:20’ is a cannabis culture slang for marijuana (ganja) and hashish consumption, especially smoking around the time of 4:20 p.m. It also refers to the cannabis-oriented celebrations that take place around the world on April 20.
The panel discussion examined the prospects of grassroots community-based cannabis tourism as an alternative, fair and sustainable way for small hemp and ganja farmers.
The idea of a ganja free zone was first pitched during a farmer’s symposium a year ago. But although Johnson understands and is aware of Jamaica’s international agreements and laws governing cannabis, he says there are many ways in which they can use those laws and small incremental privileges for the use of cannabis to push the boundaries towards establishing a cannabis free-zone area.
Pointing to what exists in several states in the US, Johnson says Jamaican authorities should advance the free-zone concept which carries greater benefits to farmers, noting that he was advised in a discussion with stakeholders from Colorado that the booming effect of the cannabis culture has forced a restriction on the number of people visiting their area for the celebrations.
“We have since learned that over two million people have been turned back from (Colorado) because the community itself is feeling overwhelmed by all of these people coming into the space to enjoy the cannabis culture,” said Johnson. “We already have the cannabis culture here, and the infrastructure ready to take those two million people. All we need is for the Government to declare the area a free zone.
“They (the Government) do not have to spend a penny because people will find themselves here. Colorado has changed the nature of their state by just legalising cannabis. They now have excess money to take care of many of the problems that they have,” added Johnson.