RASTAFARIANS MULL FUTURE

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- Hundreds of dreadlocked Rastafarians gathered in
Jamaica's capital yesterday to discuss the future of their faith, including
how more followers can be repatriated to Africa and how to persuade
governments around the world to allow marijuana use.

Rastas from the Caribbean, the United States, Europe and Africa gathered
for the weeklong meeting in Kingston, where reggae artists such as Bob
Marley and Peter Tosh gave the religion a world stage in the 1970s through
songs promoting peace, protests, marijuana and "one love."

Trevor Stewart, from the Bobo Ashanti sect, said the conference will
discuss the Rastafarian faith and ending global conflict.

"You can't rule the world with vigor and guns and bullets. It's love that
rules the world," Stewart said.

Fueled by anger over the colonial oppression of blacks, Rastafarianism
emerged in Jamaica during the 1930s and spread throughout the Caribbean.
Followers practice a strict oneness with nature, eating only certain foods
and growing their hair into dreadlocks. Some followers worship the late
Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and believe returning to Africa would
complete the cycle broken by slavery.

About 700,000 people practice the faith worldwide, but their numbers among
Jamaica's 2.6 million people are not known.