VETERAN reggae singer Bunny Wailer has turned to crowd funding site Indiegogo to secure contributions in retaining international lawyers to protect Rastafari interests in marijuana (ganja).
Wailers One Love ‘Legalize It! RastaGanja campaign was launched last Wednesday with an ambitious aim of raising US$1 million.
The singer said the fund’s start date coincided with the Jamaican Government’s revamping of the law to make possession of two ounces or less of marijuana a non-arrestable, ticketable offence, that attracts no criminal record.
That day also saw tertiary institutions — University of the West Indies and University of Technology — given the green light to grow marijuana for research purposes.
So far, Indiegogo contributions have amounted to a paltry US$100. But Wailer remains optimistic.
“Ganja is tied to the Rastafari culture in a major way. It cannot be separated. So too is reggae music. Apart from the actual Jamaican reggae artistes, we as Rastafarians are not getting anything from outsiders who perform reggae music,” argued Wailer.
In addition to retaining the services of lawyers, part of the funding will be used to register a trademark.
According the Huffington Post, legal marijuana is America’s fastest growing industry. The industry brought in US$2.4 billion last year.
“Huge corporations are reaping the benefits. We have to tax those corporations. And in going after it, we have to protect ourselves,” he told the Sunday Observer.
“Ganja is Rasta.”
The American states of Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon have legalise the recreational and medicinal use of marijuana.
Music insider Maxine Stowe shared Wailer’s vision.
“We have to have our own laws and protection. We have to trademark ourselves globally,” she said.
A three-time Grammy winner, Wailer (given name Neville Livingston) is an original member of The Wailers, which comprised Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.
Marley died of cancer in May 1981 while Tosh was shot at his St Andrew home in September 1987.
“I’m the only surviving Wailer and the world is watching. A lot of people are making money off Rastafari, we haffi get some,” the 68-year-old told Observer.
He said a Ganja Motorcade March is planned for Saturday, May 2.
“We will be marching from Emancipation Square in Spanish Town to the Good Year Oval in St Thomas. We’ll be starting at 10:00 am,” he said.
Last year, Wailer was one of the main architects behind a march for the legalisation of ganja which took place in the Corporate Area — from Half-Way-Tree to Trench Town Culture Yard in Kingston.
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