Mark Wignall | Our politicians not into Jamaican hospitals

Jamaicans who are economically secure and have sound health insurance plans do not utilise the services of government-run hospitals if illnesses require hospitalisation.

The wealthy Jamaican, like the Jamaican politician’s first order of business if he needs an invasive health procedure, is to grab his passport with US visa and book a plane ticket.

Like the ordinary Jamaican whose name is hardly ever called except in traffic court and who eats ‘bully beef’ and curried chicken, so does the well-known politician. The ordinary man drinks white rum and talks rubbish in the bar. So does the politician. Politicians and folk enduring poverty like an indelible tattoo risk dangerous hurricanes from June to November. And all of us like and eat oxtail; the rich man when he wants, the poor man when ‘A likkle ting run.’

But rest assured! The mothers and the sisters of the well-off will never be using Victoria Jubilee Hospital for their maternity needs.

Many people are rational. When the poor person gets sick, he doesn’t rack his brain over what to do. He knows that he cannot afford the cost of private health care and a private room. So he heads for a government-run hospital ward. The wealthy man heads for private healthcare, and like the politician, the first part of his healthcare trip is to get driven to the airport.

Minister of Health and Wellness Chris Tufton has proven to be his usual amenable self and borders on being the poster boy for political patience and straight talking. Of course there are some who believe that he still has more to tell about the most unfortunate death of 12 newborns at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital. The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has stuck that one to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration and Tufton directly like Velcro to linen.

But like all health ministers that were there before him, he knows of the huge cost constraints brought on by the country’s generational inadequacies in formulating an economic model of good governance and wealth. Tufton knows that if he did not inhabit the name, the shape, and the face of health minister and was instead just another Mass Joe, when pain and sickness collar him, he would have to join the horribly packed government-run A&E wards bawling, grabbing some part of his body and begging to see a doctor. For many hours.

The usual criticism made of politicians is that they have created a local, government-run health system fit only for the ‘ordinary’ Jamaican while ‘extraordinary’ Jamaicans, politicians, and their economic class peers jet off to first-class, well-focused healthcare to match the budget of a prince.

CAN MAGIC MUSHROOM CALM US?

The launch of the cannabis industry implied that many ‘ordinary’ Jamaicans would get a chance to hold real greenbacks and propel their lives to wealth.

“We don’t have the market size. Exporting to other countries poses immense difficulties. A little before COVID-19, there was some promise in the tourist industry. It is flat now,” said a young man struggling with the business now.

The fact is that the street market for ganja is still vibrant, but the two things are vastly different.

At street level, one can still easily buy $100 and $200 bags of weed. Filled with sticks and seed, its inhalation often burns the throat.

Cloning is used in the cannabis industry, and overall, it produces a much better product with no seeds and a much milder burn.

And no one in the cannabis industry could survive selling $200 bags. The price differential is big. Quality costs money.

So what about psychedelic mushrooms, which are legal.

Two brothers who look as if they should still be in school – Jordan and Brandon James - met with me recently to explain the market.

They operate Looking Glass, a company trying to develop its magic mushrooms potential.

According to the James brothers, they are only producing 100lbs per month, but if there was demand in the market, they could produce 1,500 lbs per month.

“So why is your production so low?” I asked. “There is no money there.”

“The Jamaican market doesn’t understand it yet, so the people are playing a wait-and-see approach,” said Brandon.

Jordan said, “Taken in edible form, a 0.25 gram produces a calmer state of mind, reduced aggression, and research shows it allows people to feel better about themselves.”

A well known global voice like Sam Harris, a philosopher and neuroscientist, used the product a few years ago, and his first caveat was that if a person had a history of psychosis, he should stay away from it.

The James brothers know that just as how Jamaicans know about cannabis, they DO NOT know about magic mushrooms. So the buildout will have to be in the tourist industry where retreats can be held, with the vibes of Jamaica as the main background. And remember: it’s all legal.

US ELECTIONS, A FASCIST FUTURE?

On Tuesday, Americans go to mid-term polls.

Many key individuals in the GOP (Grand Old Party) have lost their heads and are pursuing an agenda that seeks to intimidate potential Democratic voters. Add to that the fact that they are still following the sick Trumpian lie that the 2020 presidential elections was stolen from him.

This is unlike anything that the American public has ever seen. Of course it doesn’t help that the GOP rhetoric borders on the same autocratic tendencies and openly racist tropes that Donald Trump made fashionable.

The global community will be witnessing something it has not seen before. America as a laughingstock. America tilting towards its most dangerous side. Into the unknown and where the reverses may be extremely painful.

The right wing has always existed in a universe where to lose its mind is normal. But it was once in the shadows. Not so anymore. I’m not even sure that a shock win for the Democrats in the House and Senate would be able to quell the hellscape that the political trajectory suggests it will be.

- Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.