Herbalist

Frank151: What differentiates your farm from every other farm in Jamaica?
Ganja Man: Genetics and knowledge.

F151: What kind of genetics?
GM: Mostly European genetics and some Canadian genetics. Blueberry, Haze, Northern Lights, Purple Skunk, right now I’m breeding the New York City Diesel.

F151: The Diesel sells for at least $600 an ounce in New York City.
GM: I sell it here for $200. It’s a little bit more cheaper down here. You know the origin of the Diesel is Mexican Sativa female crossed with an Afghani male – that’s the original Diesel. That one was from Serious Seeds, the Blueberry was from Dutch Passion. These guys got good genetics, so far I can’t complain. Yeah they hit hard. This strain right here is Blueberry. Check it out, go on, smell it.

F151: (Big inhale through the nose) Mmmm. That’s beautiful.
GM: This strain right here is a local strain, over the years I’ve been breeding the strain. This is our Indica with a little bit of Sativa, Indica’s more of a body stone, it will put you down, make you eat a lot too. You want to relax in the night, this is what you should breathe in. When you come home from work, you going to eat, smoke a spliff of this, it opens your appetite.

F151: What do you call it?
GM: Over the years I haven’t really named them you know, I just said “my strain!” It’s a variety of a whole heap of different strains together. As you can see, it’s solid.

F151: What’s the difference between your soil and the other farmersin Jamaica?
GM: For one, I don’t use pesticides, that’s why you see me picking off these little critters right now. The food that I use, which is also organic, it has to be organic, I don’t use nothing else more than organic food. Also, different kinds of vitamins—B1, B6, Kelp, a whole bunch of different organic stuff that I use, I have around five different organic fertilizers from the seedling stage to the finishing stage. You have to have at least five different NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) to get nice buds like these. Otherwise, the guys that are growing that are different from me, they are in it mostly for money. I’m not in this thing, really 100% for money. I love growing weed, I love having the best weed. That is the problem why I can’t make money, because you spend a lot of time to grow a little weed, very good. If you grow a lot of weed, you cannot get it to that point. So I keep it down home. Just a couple of pounds every time I grow, at the most five or six pounds.

F151: What’s your favorite strain?
GM: My favorite strains are Sativa’s mixed with a touch of Indica. Like 75% Sativa, 25% Indica. I like the body to also respond, not just the brain. The Blueberry is a nice strain, the Diesel is more on the Sativa side, it’s more of a head opener.

F151: What about the price range in Jamaica?
GM: If you want to go on the side of the road and get a $50 bag (60 cents US) , the range is so different. The other day I saw a $50 bag that was nothing… an ounce is $100 US for my local strains, but if it’s something that’s fresh coming in—it’s $200 US. Anyone who wants that first generation smoke from me, that’s what it is. An ounce on the side of the street is $10 US. The quality of smoking is way different, the high is way different, the smell is way different, the presentation is way different. When you smoke this you know you are getting something special, something that a lot of people that have money want to get, and can’t get it. It comes in like good love, you know? When you want it and can’t get it, the money that they have they can’t buy it. It has to be given freely from the heart, that is how this weed is. There is so little that I grow, and the amount of friends that I have, the demand for it is incredible, I can’t keep up. A whole bunch of my friends are mad at me a lot of times (laughs). That’s why we’re trying to do something now where we can produce a little bit more of the number one strains, we need to go to the country and get something going.

F151: Do think ganja will ever be legalized in Jamaica?
GM: No, I don’t ever think it will be legalized ever in Jamaica. I’m here nine years now; I’m a returning resident also from the States. Let me tell you something, the amount of good I see weed does for this country—the amount of mouths that it feeds, the amount of youths that it makes go to school, and many many other more things health wise—cancer, people with AIDS now finding that once they keep drinking the tea or smoking, they find that it opens their appetite so they’ll eat. These people with AIDS they have to eat, they don’t eat their body goes down. It is doing a lot of good for the country, everybody sees this, everybody knows this, and still it’s not decriminalized. So it will never be legalized.

F151: Why? That doesn’t make sense.
GM: Well, it’s not Jamaica’s choice. If you really look at it, it’s coming back from the States, because Jamaica has too much ties with the US, and they say no. They have a lot of control of what happens down here, because they control most of the debt. We borrow a lot. Mexico legalized having a small amount of weed and coke for personal use a while back, it must have lasted one day. The amount of embargo that hit them, they had to hurry up and forget about that shit. People are scared of that. I really feel if Jamaica take it to that limit, and even say not legalize it, but decriminalize it, and go against what America is saying, and get cut off, I feel that Jamaica’s resource could really build the country up – if everyone stands strong and decides to really work with what we have naturally. Because what we have naturally is beautiful and it’s in demand, our beaches, culture, food, and weed! You see the nice tropical climate down here, it’s beautiful in Jamaica, and we produce a lot of different stuff. I don’t think it will ever be like that because everybody wants to have it easy right now, so we will never see that, I don’t think so. I think when America decides to legalize it, then we will get to legalize also.

F151: What are your thoughts on hydroponics?
GM: Well, I’ve grown hydro in the States, in the closet in my room—6x9 full of hydro. It’s strong, its direct, control the path a lot, because you give it a command, and you make sure it gets the command, the plant responds fast in hydro. Also, if you have a power cut, and you don’t have anything to back it up, then you’re in trouble, because they will go into shock and die fast. So that’s the downside. And here in Jamaica we get a lot of power failure.

F151: So do you think if the power was more reliable, more growers would grow hydro?
GM: No, because after they see the high—because hydro is very intense. Weed is something that should be mind opening, relaxing, and constructive thoughts going through you at all time. That’s how weed should be, not something to race you like you are wired up on cocaine. Growing so many strains that they have today, some are going up to 20% THC. Growing indoor, controlled, meeting all the requirements of the plant, you are going to get some crazy shit, some shit that’s going to make you wired up. But the same genetics grown in the soil, makes the high different. In the US you get real high, then you have a big crash. Here you can smoke, and it’s smoother.

It also has to do with below sea level. I lived in Miami for many years. Smoking in Miami is way different from smoking in Jamaica. It’s different because, guess what? You come down fast up there, here you don’t come down fast. It holds because you are higher above sea level. You could smoke a mild ‘dro and it will still have an affect on you, below the sea level in Miami, if the weed ain’t no good and you smoke it, you don’t feel it.

F151: Are the penalities currently stiff here in Jamaica?
GM: Well, it’s different if they catch you doing certain things. If you’re smuggling a large quantity of weed out of the country right now, it’s going to be stiff, they’re going to try to stick it to you. It depends on what you are doing with it. They are selling away weed for guns. It’s happening right now in Haiti. A lot of Jamaicans are stealing fisherman boats, and getting rich in a matter of a day’s work. These kind of stiff penalties should go towards the people who are bringing back guns. But if a man is smuggling just to bring back the money, to better himself and his family, not dealing with no guns, then the penalty should be different, because it’s a system, and the law is there, and it is wrong within the law, but this is also a part of our culture. Over the years, this is what has been going on in Jamaica. This is what the tourists come here mostly for – the weed. Not only that, it’s strong in our culture – religiously. Weed is a part of we. You can go on a government bus with a spliff, it’s totally different down here, you just have to respect how you do things. You don’t go on it puffing away, you can go on it with it in your mouth. You know, the bus just comes up while you were smoking it, you bruise it (put it out), you step on the bus, and you have it in your mouth, no ones fucking with you. Because that’s we. A little Rastaman on the street side selling some vegetables and stuff, and you go purchase something from him, he’s got a big spliff hanging down in his mouth. And sometimes the police pass, and they even buy something from him, and they think nothing of that, because it’s part of our culture to see this – the Rastaman, his spliff, and his food.

You have some people right now that are using weed to do a lot of different things, and it causes a lot of other problems. And there is people like me, I smoke weed for recreation, but I also smoke it for medication. Guess what? I smoke a lot of cigarettes, I don’t smoke the weed with the cigarette that I smoke. The weed is a natural defense for your lungs. The hair-like filter that is in your lungs, the weed cleanses that hair-like filter. When you smoke cigarettes, it builds up tar and all that shit. Weed helps, that’s why you cough a lot when you smoke, cause it’s cleaning the system. But at the same time you’re not supposed to over do it, it’s supposed to be like a once a week thing. But we love it, and it’s a bad habit. It’s not going to kill you, I know a 100 year old man in Jamaica, and he has been smoking weed all his life, and he is alive, kicking well. So I know weed is not a killer, and it’s not addictive at the same time – because you’re not dying for it. It’s my life right now, it’s a part of my belief. It takes care of my kids, along with the other work I do. Without it, there would be no them (pointing to the kids). That’s for sure.