Ganja farmers rail over raids - Despite cannabis reforms, growers still facing police harassment, claims association head

Despite more than a decade of reforms aimed at legitimising Jamaica’s cannabis industry, traditional ganja farmers continue to face harassment and heavy-handed police raids, according to the head of the Ganja Growers and Producers Association of Jamaica, who argues that little has changed for cultivators on the ground.
Speaking to The Gleaner at the ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony for the Cannabis Licensing Authority’s new headquarters on Haining Road in St Andrew yesterday, Maurice Ellis said farmers in several parishes have come under increased scrutiny from members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), often based on allegations that they are involved in guns-for-drugs operations.
“The ganja farmers today are still facing raids from the JCF for the past several weeks, and the claim from the members of the JCF is that, based on intelligence, the ganja farmers are involved in guns for drugs. What we have come to find out is that those statements are not true,” Ellis charged.
The opening of the new headquarters marked what Delano Seiveright, state minister for industry, investment and commerce, described as another milestone in Jamaica’s efforts to build “a modern, transparent, credible and internationally respected medicinal cannabis industry”.
In his keynote address, Seiveright said the CLA has issued about 200 licences across cultivation, processing, retail, transportation, research and analytical services, while recent reforms have introduced Special Community Permits and Transitional Special Permits to provide greater opportunities for traditional cultivators.
Jamaica’s cannabis laws have undergone significant changes over the past decade, including the decriminalisation of possession of small quantities of ganja, recognition of its sacramental use by Rastafarians, the establishment of a regulated medicinal cannabis industry, and more recently, new permit categories designed to bring traditional growers into the legal market.
Ellis argued, however, that those legislative reforms are slowly translated into changes on the ground.
“If you understand ganja farming in Jamaica, you will know that the ganja farmer is not the smuggler; the ganja farmer grows and, based on our checks, none of the farms raided were involved in ganja smuggling,” he said, noting that affected farmers had subsequently demonstrated they were authorised to cultivate cannabis through various legal channels.
His comments come more than a decade after the death of Mario Deane, whose fatal beating while in police custody following an arrest for possession of a ganja spliff became a catalyst for renewed calls to reform Jamaica’s cannabis laws.
Ellis said the association had raised concerns with members of the police High Command and was advised that there was no standing directive authorising many of the operations. 
According to Ellis, police have conducted as many as four raids a day in sections of St Elizabeth and Westmoreland in recent weeks, while similar concerns have emerged in St Mary, including a raid involving a sacramental group that claims to possess the necessary documentation.
“We have been watching a situation now develop in St Mary, where a raid was conducted on a sacramental group, and their claim is that they have their paperwork. We are waiting to see how these situations play out in the courts because the law recognises ganja for medicinal, sacramental, therapeutic, and research and development purposes. Those are rights, and rights can’t be eroded by might,” Ellis stressed.
He also claimed that some people had been charged following the operations and questioned the absence of body-worn camera footage.
“The police are not aware of the new amendments, and what we are saying is, ‘Look, if you go on a premises and the person has a claim, persons will have a right to have their sacrament returned.’ It is going to go further, because these sacramental houses are going to start suing for damages,” he said.
While describing the opening of the CLA’s headquarters as a milestone for the industry, Ellis expressed disappointment that many traditional farmers were absent from the event.
Representing approximately 3,000 licensed and unregulated growers, he said the low turnout reflected a breakdown in communication between regulators and the grassroots sector.
“The industry was built from the top down, instead of from the ground up,” Ellis said. “We’ve seen some improvement on the part of the Government and the CLA, but we still have a lot more work to do.”
Seiveright said Jamaica’s ambition was not simply to expand its cannabis industry, but to become one of the world’s most respected medicinal cannabis jurisdictions, built on quality, integrity and strong regulation. He said the country’s cannabis heritage, ideal growing conditions and generations of cultivation knowledge position it well to become a global leader in the medicinal cannabis space.
Up to last night, The Gleaner was unable to obtain a response from representatives of the JCF. 
corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com