Rastafarian leader slams St John cannabis seizure

President of the African Heritage Foundation Paul Ras Simba Rock has criticised the police for their recent drug raid in St John, arguing that the operation “disenfranchised” local growers.

Police recently raided areas in St John, where they seized and destroyed
6 000 cannabis plants with an estimated street value of $1.4 million.

Ras Simba, who supports legalising cannabis, argued that publicising these high-dollar figures is a deliberate attempt to sway public opinion against small-scale growers.

“It is not a new development,” Ras Simba said. “The police have been making these sorts of raids for as long as prohibition has existed. What makes this one interesting is that each time the street dollar value is expressed and put out there, it is a thing done to ‘incensitise’ the public.
Drugs have the stigma attached to them of being big money makers. When you put that value on it, it speaks in a certain way to the general public.”

He emphasised that these raids take away important income from poor communities, while wealthy companies benefit from new medicinal cannabis laws.

“For years, ganja has been part and parcel of the economic stronghold, not only of the Rastafari community, but of disenfranchised, poor people,” Ras Simba said. “What that $1.4 million says to me is that this is revenue being taken out of the hands of poor people. If it was under the so-called legislation, it would be no problem, because we have well-to-do people making that amount and more legally from therapeutic shops and legal spaces.”
When asked if traditional growers still face barriers to joining the regulated industry, Ras Simba claimed the current system shuts out average farmers because of economic bias, strict rules and heavy penalties.

“The regulated industry was not set for the average grower,” he stated. “The industry is set for a limited amount to grow. Most of us just want to have access to the plant so we can do our own thing. We can use the roots, we can use the leaves, we can make our butters legally. Every Barbadian should have access to at least seven to nine female plants.”

He highlighted how court fines trap traditional growers in a cycle of poverty and force them into criminality, pointing to a recent incident involving someone from the community.

“Just about a month ago, a young brother in our community was held and charged $50 000 for cultivation,” Ras Simba said. “He had to spend a month on remand and now has a fine of $50 000 to pay in 18 months. The only way for him to get this money is to go ahead and plant more herb. This is what the law has been doing to poor people ever since: giving them fines they know they cannot pay.”

He also criticised the legal market for relying on imported North American products instead of supporting traditional, locally grown organic cannabis.

“Right now, what we have is an influx of North American herb, which the Rastafari community has queries about regarding health, because organic food is better for you than food farmed with a lot of pesticides and fertilisers,” he noted.

Despite ongoing police operations and court cases, Ras Simba reaffirmed that Rastafarian farmers will keep fighting for full legal access and the right to grow cannabis. (RR)