Supporters of your cannabis campaign may like to know of a
similar campaign called the "Legalise Ganja Campaign" started in
Jamaica in October 1996. Jamaica revels in the reputation and
revenue generated by the works of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and
other Rastafarian musicians for whom ganja was an inspiration.
Yet hundreds of Jamaicans are charged every year for possession
and ganja crops are destroyed by spraying and burning.

Rastafarians protested against the anti-ganja laws and suffered
for their beliefs. In 1996 Rastafarian elders came together with
leading professionals and launched the campaign.

Public reaction was favourable; political reaction was not. The
Minister of National Security and Justice declared that he would
not legalise "even an ounce." One of the opposition parties
flirted with a proposal for decriminalisation but backed off when
the US Ambassador told them that Jamaica would be ostracised from
all aid programmes.

We live in Jamaica under the shadow of a US Caribbean policy
which, under the cover of the "war against drugs," does more to
harass ganja growers than to stop the traffic in cocaine.
Sustaining the campaign is difficult. The economy is in a
dreadful state. Supporters do not have the money or time to put
in. The priority is to survive and make ends meet.

We would like to commission an opinion survey; to organise a
"legalise it" concert; to petition parliament with thousands of
signatories. But funds do not stretch even to pay a secretary.
We welcome the campaign, which will help us to gain ground in
Jamaica. Your supporters may find that a breakthrough in Jamaica,
home of some of the finest weed, will be significant
internationally. I am a barrister practising mainly in Jamaica
and a founding member of the Legalise Ganja Campaign.

Messages of support can be sent to me at: 21 Church Street,
Kingston, Jamaica.

Lord Gifford
QC