Nearly 50 years after reggae legend Peter Tosh first sang “Legalize It,” Jamaica has recognized the economic potential of perhaps its most famous homegrown industry.
Licensed medical dispensaries are popping up all over the island – but with the government opting for the decriminalization of ganja rather than full legalization (there are important differences), many questions remain. Here’s what you need to know about smoking weed legally in Jamaica.
Reforming the legal code, clearing the air
For many tourists, marijuana has long been an important if unspoken part of any Jamaica experience. Known universally in the country as ganja (or herb to Rastafari adherents), marijuana can seem as Jamaican as Bob Marley or Usain Bolt.
The minute they disembark from their cruise ships, tourists will hear whispers from touts offering them a smoke, while vendors openly sell pre-rolled spliffs at dancehall street parties in downtown Kingston.
Until relatively recently, possession of even small amounts of ganja could land visitors in jail. But a wholesale revision of drug laws over the past 10 years has seen all that change.
Concluding that ganja could be a positive part of the country’s brand – and eying potential tax revenues from a newly legal industry – Jamaican authorities decided to embrace reform.
In 2015, the Jamaican government passed a series of important amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act, decriminalizing ganja and introducing licenses for its cultivation and sale. But since decriminalization isn’t quite the same as full legalization, what are the implications for visitors to Jamaica?
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