The Rastafarian community is accusing the Government of covering up its true intentions towards the movement and to the country in general.
In a strongly-worded declaration today, president of the African Heritage Foundation (AHF) Paul Simba Rock again sought to make a case for cannabis to become legal and accessible to all the people of Barbados.
Rock, who is also Public Relations Officer of the Rastafari Progressive Movement (RPM) is demanding “just cannabis reform” for all and not just some.
“The Rastafari community in Barbados continues to be disadvantaged by the Government of Barbados as far as cannabis justice is concerned,” he said.
He argued that the foundational position of the Rastafari community is that cannabis has medicinal and spiritual properties and as such should be made legally accessible to all the adult population.
“It is the further position of this community that cannabis should be legal, however, having it regulated in a manner that affords all Barbadians the green light to cultivate a couple plants for their medicinal and spiritual uses in the privacy of their respective homes,” the Rastafarian leader suggested.
He added: “No other working relationship can be built with the Government of Barbados as it relates to cannabis while we the people of Barbados remain cannabis criminals. Our brothers and sisters remain in prison for seeking to economically empower themselves through the sale of cannabis, as the Government is not setting themselves to do. How can this be moral?”
Rock demanded equal treatment for the Rastafarian “brothers and sisters” contending that the government’s claim that it cares, is not reflected in its actions.
“The BLP is trying to cover up its unconscionable actions as it pertains to the people of Barbados and the Rastafari community, by trying to make it seem like they are working in the best interests of the people. They are not! The Rastafari community demands the same respect that is given to Caucasian people, Syrian people and the well-to-do African descended people in Barbados,” he said.
Rock asserted that no one wants to be ruled by an unjust and uncaring government. “The words spoken by the Prime Minister that she cares is not manifested in her actions,” Rock pointed out.
He recalled that the head of the Barbados Cannabis Licensing Authority Dr. Shantal Munroe-Knight recently announced that her agency signed a memorandum of understanding with the Technical and Vocational Educational Training (TVET) Council as it pertains to cannabis cultivation for the medicinal cannabis industry.
“The unconscious, uncaring nature of the Barbados Labour Party utilized the expertise of Rastafari, namely myself, to assist with the creating of teaching modules that will be used within their intended cannabis cultivation course. I was chosen to assist with this initiative due to my experience in cultivating cannabis. Please note that I like many others, due to unjust cannabis laws have had to, and continue to, risk lives and freedom to preserve a Barbadian cannabis culture.
“This means the immoral nature of the Government will allow it to utilize my knowledge of cultivating cannabis while actively seeking to incarcerate me if they catch me growing a few plants,” the spokesman for the Rastafarian movement stated.
Rock noted that it was recently reported in the local news that the Government would be making allowances for the Rastafari community to cultivate an acre of cannabis to be sold within the medical cannabis industry.
“It must be noted that no discussions have been held with the Rastafari community as it pertains to this. Furthermore, one acre of land to cultivate cannabis for the medical cannabis industry does not address the issues pertaining to cannabis that the wider Rastafari community has,” he added.
He accused the Government of jumping the gun on publicizing its plans for the use of land which will be used for productive reasons by Rastafari.
“While waiting for a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and the Prime Minister to discuss issues pertaining to the wider Rastafari community, including just cannabis reform, the government has gone ahead and announced plans for this acre of land for Rastafari to cultivate cannabis for the industry. This was thought to be highly disrespectful by the majority of the Rastafari community, who then exited a WhatsApp chat designed by new party member Rodney Grant and veteran party faithful Trevor Prescod to facilitate that meeting,” said the spokesman for the movement.
Rock said the Government continues to attempt to divide the Rastafari community on its stance as it pertains to cannabis by discussing issues and solutions to the issues with a few Rastafari brothers and sisters who are BLP party faithfuls.
“These are duty-bound to agree and praise the BLP for whatever crumbs they see fit to dust of the table for us. This has proven detrimental to the Rastafari community, although beneficial to the individuals in question,” the AHF president declared. (EJ)
