International Journal of Drug Policy 36 (2016) 151–155

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International Journal of Drug Policy

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Short report

Farming medical ganja in Jamaica

Simon Jones a,b,*a Postharvest Unit, Writtle College, University of Essex, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 3RR, UKb QCS, Fairview, Malvern, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica

Introduction

In early 2015 the Jamaican parliament passed the DangerousDrugs (Amendment) Act (DDAA) (Ministry of Justice, 2015) withseveral significant changes to the existing legislation and isintended to ‘‘provide for the modification of penalties orpossession of ganja in specified small quantities and the smokingof ganja in specified circumstances, and for a scheme of licences,permits and other authorisations for medical, therapeutic orscientific purposes’’.

During the consultation period prior to the introduction of theDDAA the government repeatedly emphasised support for thesmall farmer and they will be able to apply for a licence to grow upto 1 acre of ganja. The DDAA also makes provisions for the grantingof licences and permits to enable the establishment of a regulatedindustry for the processing of ganja for medical, therapeutic andscientific uses. The DDAA therefore offers an opportunity toenfranchise small subsistence farmers and allows the governmentto derive significant new income streams based on the licence feesand taxation payable by growers, processors and patients.Additionally the Jamaican government has identified medicaltourism including therapeutic treatments as a new marketsegment with as yet little competition.

This study set out to investigate the opinions of ganja farmerscurrently 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 thenew legal medical ganja scheme prior to its introduction.

Methods

Initial contact with the ganja farmers was made by attendinggovernment and national grow association conferences andmeetings in Kingston, attending local grow association meetingsand through social and personal contacts. Personal contactsincluded a 35-year relationship with a St. Elizabeth born and

* Correspondence to: Postharvest Unit, Writtle College, University of Essex,

Chelmsford, Essex CM1 3RR, UK. Tel.: +44 1245 424200/1 876 343 9366.

E-mail address: sjones.jnl@gmail.com

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.03.011

0955-3959/� 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

bred now UK resident involved in ganja cultivation and distribu-tion.

The convenience sample of 17 participants were from theparishes of St. Elizabeth, Manchester, Trelawny and Westmore-land, with St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland being the main ganjagrowing areas in Jamaica. Some of the sample were close long-termfriends, others knew each other to varying degrees and othersmoved in completely different social or geographical networks.

The size of the farms varied from small single sites of 1/10 of anacre with a few hundred plants to multiple grow sites coveringseveral acres with thousands of plants. Farmers grew in a variety oflocations including hill-tops, hill-sides, coastal plains and swamplands[1_TD$DIFF].

The research combined direct field observation and qualitativeinterviews over the course of nine months in 2014 and 2015 toexamine the demographics, pre and post-harvest processes andlevel of engagement with the DDAA of small ganja farmers. Thestudy recruited a sample of growers who grow outdoors allthrough the year located throughout the main ganja growing areasof Jamaica where ganja growing remains illegal at the time ofwriting.

Results

Characteristics of farms and farmers

This study found that all of the farmers grew outdoors, all wereafro-Caribbean, male, subsistence farmers, secondary schooleducated, grew to make money, accepted the risk of detectionas 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 withmost in addition to ganja growing small crops of ‘grabba’ (tobacco),keeping or looking after goats or cows but ganja was in practicalterms their primary source of income.

Studies in the US (Boylstein & Maggard, 2013; Crawford, 2014;Mohamed & Fritsvold, 2010) found that growers primarily grewindoors and were predominantly white, male, middle class, collegeeducated and downplayed being motivated by money with thedecision to stop growing being driven by the risk of detection,commitment to family and more conventional occupations.

[(Fig._1)TD$FIG]

Fig. 1. How the referrals were obtained.

[(Fig._2)TD$FIG]

Fig. 2. A new hill-top site being cleared.

S. Jones / International Journal of Drug Policy 36 (2016) 151–155152

In a European study Decorte (2010) reported that cultivationtechniques were readily available through word of mouth amongfriends, specialist grow magazines, the internet and local growshops. Although this study found that small farmers madeextensive use of information from personal contacts it also foundthat grow magazines were unavailable locally, very few farmershad access to the internet and although local farm shops supplyvegetable seeds, fertilisers, insecticides, chicks and rabbits theyhave no knowledge of ganja production.

Decorte (2008) reported that Belgian growers had found ganjafrom the Netherlands as ‘too strong’ and ‘chemically boosted’ andwanted to grow their own ganja which was ‘milder’, ‘healthier’ and‘more organic’. This study found that several growers especiallyRastafarians were growing to be able to smoke chemical free,organic though not necessarily milder ganja.

Farm sizes varied with small single sites of 1/10 to 1/8 of an acrecommon for the ‘small’ small farmer while for the ‘big’ smallfarmer grow areas were generally in the range of 3–4 acres withmultiple grow sites. Farmers grew in a variety of locationsincluding hill-tops, hill-sides, coastal plains and swamp lands.

Most grow sites are in remote or hard to access locations toreduce the chance of detection by law enforcement and under thenew scheme small farmers will be able to grow in more favourablelocations but will need finance to either purchase or lease land andinstall infrastructure including security fencing, water tanks anddrip irrigation systems.

Cultivation

There has been significant media coverage in Jamaica of thepossibility of exporting to other countries with medical ganjasystems, in particular Canada. Although the herbal medical ganjaavailable in Canada is seedless single strain this is very rarely thecase currently in Jamaica with only 1 grower in the study alreadyproducing seedless single strains including OG Kush and Blueberry– both headline strains in Canada and the US.

The farmers kept their own seeds or paid JA$3–5000 (US$25–40) per quart for mixed strain seeds generally from local contactsbut sometimes from friends and family in different parts of theisland to introduce new strains. Some farmers had their ownbreeding program and used their own seeds exclusively [2_TD$DIFF].

Although single strain hybrid seeds are widely available inEurope and North America this is not the case in Jamaica, howeverthey can be posted or brought in by visitors but are subject toconfiscation by Jamaican Customs. One farmer in the study

brought back a few packets of single strain hybrid seeds from theUS and used them as part of a breeding programme – shown inFig. 3.

It is thought that ganja was originally introduced to Jamaica inthe 1800s from either Africa (Warf, 2014) or India (Angrosino,2003), with Clarke (1981) commenting on similar traits found inganja from Jamaica, Columbia and Mexico. Jamaican ganja is now amix of the original African, Indian or South American landracestrains, the Santa Marta strain introduced from South America inthe 1970s (Loja, 2015) and various single strain hybrids broughtinto Jamaica in the last 20–30 years which have all been crosspollinated during open field production.

Historical studies by Rubin and Comitas (1975) and Marshman,Yawney, and Popham (1976) found THC levels of 4% or above werecomparatively rare in Jamaica, with reliable information on currentlevels being non-existent. Although Steep Hills Laboratories testedganja at a festival in Negril in 2015 and found THC levels of 9–14%this is not necessarily representative. In Europe and North Americaa range of 15–20% THC is common with some strains including K-Train, a hybrid of Trainwreck and OG Kush, reaching 23% THC (GS,2015) and others reportedly reaching 27–28% THC.

Some growers have large water tanks where water can be pipedfrom a water truck on the nearest road, others use solely raincaptured water while others have access to piped water from the

[(Fig._3)TD$FIG]

Fig. 3. A seed breeding area.

[(Fig._5)TD$FIG]

Fig. 5. A hill-side site almost at maturity.

S. Jones / International Journal of Drug Policy 36 (2016) 151–155 153

nearest main. For farmers growing in the Morass swamp area in St.Elizabeth water was rarely a problem with farmers growing onislands built into the swamp allowing the roots permanent accessto water.

Although the government has often mentioned during theconsultation that the ganja under the new scheme will be organicthere seems little clarity yet how this will happen. The vastmajority of farmers in Jamaica both of ganja and conventionalcrops use chemical fertilisers and pesticides and if farmers areunclear about what ‘organic’ means or in practical terms what canand cannot be used then problems will occur when the ganja issubmitted for residue testing which will apply whether the ganja isdestined for local or export markets[3_TD$DIFF].

Some farmers usually Rastafarians used organic fertilisersincluding cassava leaf teas, cow, chicken and goat dung, bat guanoand wood-ash, and used organic pesticides including neem oil, hotpeppers and garlic. One farmer who also runs a seafood restaurantuses crushed lobster and crab shells and chopped seaweed asfertilisers. Some farmers made compost to use as a mulch andfertiliser.

Although chemical fertilisers and pesticides are used in largequantities the study found spraying was often done in windyconditions and that very few farmers used protective clothing orventilators when spraying crops.

[(Fig._4)TD$FIG]

Fig. 4. A site in early stages of growth.

Harvest

Most farmers picked the ganja as soon as possible primarily dueto risk of the crop being detected by the police but also to turn theplants into cash as soon as possible. All the farmers hung the plantsupside down in the shade for 3–4 days, with some then putting theplants back out in the sun for 3–6[6_TD$DIFF] hours to ‘crisp up’ to ensure theleaves were dry to make it easier to trim the plants (Figs. 6 and 7).

Although some of the farmers produced a ganja by-product –‘gum’, a type of charras made by rubbing the growing plantbetween the hands and scraping off the oily residue into a ball,generally it was for personal use rather than sale. None of thefarmers produced hashish from harvested plants or made ganja oilwhich will make up a significant part of the medical market underthe new scheme.

Markets

Market prices ex-grower for ganja generally fell in a range from[4_TD$DIFF]JA[7_TD$DIFF]$2–4000 (US$17–35) per pound depending on the quantitypurchased and quality attributes including the degree to whichseeded, taste, strength and effect. It should be noted that in Jamaicaganja is usually sold with the buds still attached to the stem so aJamaican ‘pound’ can weigh between 8 and 12 ounces of buddepending on the strain, whereas in Europe and North Americaganja is sold solely as bud. The ganja was generally either soldlocally or to a wholesaler from Kingston and although the marketprice paid by the wholesaler was similar to local prices the farmerwas able to sell a large amount in a single transaction and get asignificant cash sum immediately.

One ‘big’ small farmer produced largely for the export marketwith the remainder being sold into the local market. The farmerproduced single-strain seedless ganja and was able to charge up to[4_TD$DIFF]JA[8_TD$DIFF]$25,000 (US$210) per pound.

The study found most farmers had no interest in the newscheme commenting they could do without the paperwork andrules of the new system. These farmers will continue to grow andsell seeded mixed strain illegally and there will be no difference inthe yield, quality and potency of their ganja. Others expressed aninterest in switching to seedless single strain ganja with anincreased yield, quality and potency due to the anticipatedsignificant increase in the market price of their crop. For the‘big’ small farmer there is no incentive to desist from currentoperations although adding a legal acre to the existing portfolio ofillegal sites may be of interest.

[(Fig._6)TD$FIG]

Fig. 6. Ganja being hung and dried.[(Fig._7)TD$FIG]

Fig. 7. Ganja being trimmed.

S. Jones / International Journal of Drug Policy 36 (2016) 151–155154

The study also found that ‘big’ small farmers were moreprepared for the new system than ‘small’ small farmers in terms oftheir sourcing of seeds, use of mother plants and clones, use oforganic fertilisers and pesticides and sourcing of water. Addition-ally the study found that the ‘big’ small farmers are alreadyoperating at a scale in excess of the 1 acre envisaged for smallfarmers under the new scheme.

For the small farmer there are additional significant barriers toentry including the cost of either buying in ‘suckers’ (seedlings) asis generally the practice with commercial farmers growing forexample scotch bonnet peppers, or alternatively acquiring seeds,growing mother plants and propagating clones. Depending on thestrain being grown the farmer would need 1200–1500 seedlings orclones per acre.

Discussion

The study examined the opinions of ganja farmers currentlygrowing illegally about production and postharvest practices andtheir views of, response to and level of engagement with the newscheme.

In Jamaica the focus has been on licencing and the pre-harvestprocesses and little is known yet of the post-harvest supply chainincluding testing, certification, packaging and distribution. Al-though the Jamaican government has held numerous consultation

meetings across the island with senior ministers championing therole of the small farmer, while national TV and radio news havefeatured reports of the new system with national newspapersmaking regular reports, the results of the study showed a worryinglack of knowledge of the new system by the farmers themselves.

Unlike Canada or US states including Colorado where farmerscan apply for a licence to grow any quantity of ganja it seems likelythat farmers in Jamaica will be able to apply for a ‘Cultivator’licence to grow 1 acre of ganja or they can grow under sub-contractfor ‘Research & Development’ licence holders, including theUniversity of the West Indies and the University of Technologyboth based in Kingston.

There are several options for the farmer: do not apply for alicence – continue to grow and sell seeded mixed strain illegally;do not apply for a licence – grow under sub-contract; apply for aCultivator licence – grow and sell seeded mixed strain in the localmarket; apply for a Cultivator and Processor licence – grow andprocess seeded mixed strain into oil and added value products forthe local market; apply for a Cultivator licence – grow and sellseedless single strain in the local market; apply for a Cultivator andProcessor licence – grow and process seedless single strain into oiland added value products for the local market; apply for aCultivator and Export licence – grow and sell seedless single strainin the export market; apply for a Cultivator, Processor and Exportlicence – grow and process seedless single strain into oil and addedvalue products for the export market.

Jamaican farmers have traditionally used seeds and seedlings inconventional agriculture and although they have embraced usingseeds from open field pollinated modern ganja hybrids which caneither be male, hermaphrodite or female, there is little knowledgeor use of vegetative propagation even though it would produceonly female plants and therefore seedless or sinsemilla ganja.

The Scientific Research Council in Jamaica is currently usingtissue culture to increase the quality and yield of pineapplevarieties including MD2, Queen and Sugar Loaf (Observer, 2015).One way forward for the medical scheme in Jamaica may be to usetissue culture to propagate female plants of single strain ganjavarieties to facilitate the availability of standardised disease-freeclones for distribution to farmers.

The study found that most small farmers had no interest in thenew system and will likely continue to grow and sell seeded mixedstrain illegally and there will be no difference in the yield, qualityand potency of their ganja. Other farmers anticipate applying for alicence for the new system and switching to seedless single strainganja with an increased yield, quality and potency.

There has been little discussion on how ganja businesses will besupported and integrated into the formal economy and whetherthe government will facilitate low-cost, low-collateral loans for thepurchase of infrastructure and materials by farmers or thepurchase of added-value processing equipment and facilities byprocessors channelled through the Development Bank of Jamaicaand the Export Import (EXIM) Bank and administered by localbanks and credit unions.

The Jamaican government has been rolling out a programme of‘Agro Parks’ where farmers growing conventional crops can leaseland with a shared infrastructure including water tanks and dripirrigation systems. One way forward may be to introduce ‘GanjaParks’ to facilitate the rapid, structured and systematic introduc-tion of best practice production and postharvest processes inconjunction with the Jamaica Organic Agricultural Movement(JOAM), the Bureau of Standards and the extension services of theRural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA).

Additionally no information has been forthcoming on, forexample, which medical conditions will covered by the DDAA,where the potential medical patient will attend to becomelicenced, whether all medical practitioners will be able to licence

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patients or only those specifically designated, how the medicalpractitioner will diagnose the medical condition and prescribe aspecific dose per day of a specific strain or where the patient will fillthe prescription.

Conclusion

In the short time-span before the new scheme is introduced thefarmers need information and advice to increase their engagementand help them prepare for the new market requirements for theproduction of single strain seedless ganja and a new post-harvestsupply chain including testing, certification, packaging, logisticsand distribution.

An integrated approach by the Jamaican government couldcreate an enabling environment to support the rapid, structuredand systematic introduction of the new system by facilitating low-cost, low-collateral loans, instigating ‘Ganja Parks’ with sharedinfrastructure and facilities, providing standardised disease-freeclones for distribution to farmers, ensuring that financial institu-tions are legally empowered to provide banking, currency andinsurance services, facilitating the medical scheme in conjunctionwith health professionals, instigating the testing and certificationsystem in conjunction with the Bureau of Standards and enablingJOAM and RADA to provide training and extension services.

Conflict of interest statement

None.

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