After a century of prohibition, the nascent Jamaican cannabis industry faces a new existential threat:  in March 2023, the Jamaican government allowed the importation of cannabis from Canada. The imported product is now being sold in dispensaries across the island, competing with homegrown ganja, and threatening the existence of the domestic industry.

In addition to blindsiding local entrepreneurs working to create first class brands around Jamaican cannabis, this inexplicable trade allowance undercuts the hundreds of small-scale ganja farmers across the island.  For these independent farmers, this is an unjust development after decades of persecution and criminalization of the cultivation of the plant.

Jamaica is the spiritual home of cannabis.  Like cigars to Cuba, champagne to France, and tequila to Mexico, ganja is Jamaican. Unfortunately, if adequate measures are not put in place Jamaica's ganja industry could suffer a fate similar to our dairy and banana industries. 

We call upon the passionate community of Jamaicans and the Jamaican diaspora as well as innovators and the fair-minded around the world to support domestic Jamaican ganja cultivation.  

In recognition of the history of injustice faced by small-scale Jamaican ganja farmers and for this industry to thrive, we need your support to help achieve: 

1) FairTrade and Agriculture policy guided by a sense of national pride 
2) Improved regulatory efficiency and oversight 
3) Fairly enforced regulation, including greater inclusion and affordability for independent ganja farmers

Get involved:

• Sign here
• Contact your MP
• Contact Cannabis License Authority 

Cartoonist: Clovis Brown