THREE-TIME Grammy winner Bunny Wailer, singer Denroy Morgan and members of the Mystic Revealers band were among the artists who participated in Saturday’s Global Ganja Motorcade/March.
The 74-kilometre trek from Emancipation Square in Spanish Town, St Catherine to Goodyear Oval in Morant Bay, St Thomas was reminiscent of the 1865 march of Jamaica’s National Hero Paul Bogle.
“The motorcade was well supported with 40 to 50 vehicles,” Maxine Stowe, music insider and ganja legalisation advocate, told the Jamaica Observer.
The Global Ganja Motorcade/March is Wailer’s latest attempt to shed light on recent changes in Jamaican law regarding the use and production of marijuana.
The first was in 1996, while the second was on April 20 last year.
The motorcade is linked to the 150th anniversary of the Morant Bay Rebellion, of which Bogle, a Baptist deacon, was integral. The Bogle connection goes deeper than just the route, Stowe said.
“It’s about intellectual property and the use of crown lands.”
She, however, lamented the march’s late approval by the police, which meant organisers were unable to properly publicise the event.
In a previous Jamaica Observer interview, Wailer claimed that ganja is inseparable from Rastafarian culture. He added that the motorcade is to drum up support to stop government and corporate takeover of what he sees as their birthright.
“Ganja is Rasta,” he said.
On April 15, Justice Minister, Senator Mark Golding, announced amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act which partially decriminalises small portions of ganja for recreational, religious or medical use.
Persons with two ounces of ganja face a small fine, but can no longer be arrested or charged by police which would result in a criminal record.
— By Rory Daley
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