JCF calls for review of ganja law amid tensions with Rastas

THE Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is calling for a comprehensive review of the Dangerous Drugs Act, saying gaps and ambiguities in the law governing sacramental ganja use by Rastafarians must be addressed to clarify the community’s religious protections and guide police enforcement. The force says uncertainty over how officers should verify religious authorisation, identify approved cultivation sites and recognise places of worship has contributed to tensions with Rastafari adherents, whose use of ganja is recognised under Jamaican law for sacramental purposes.

Head of Legal Affairs at the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Senior Superintendent of Police Arielle Brown Blake, told the Joint Select Committee reviewing the Green Paper on the National Policy for Culture, Entertainment and the Creative Economy 2025–2035 on Wednesday that the law governing sacramental ganja use by Rastafarians should be reviewed to address ambiguities that have contributed to tensions between the community and the police. Responding to questions from Opposition Senator Allan Bernard following the JCF’s presentation to the committee, who asked whether Jamaica should move away from criminalising ganja towards a broader legislative framework that better recognises Rastafari’s religious and cultural rights, Brown Blake said the JCF supports a comprehensive review of the legislation and a shift towards an approach that better protects the community’s constitutional rights. “In supporting our citizens’ rights and freedoms under the constitution, I do think that it is something that we can consider moving away from, and not just can consider, should consider, instead of moving away from a criminalisation framework into a framework that allows them to take hold of the rights that the constitution…