Two ziploc of ganja...

(I do not smoke nor have I ever used ganja in any form.  I am also against the consumption of alcohol. I have advocated that it is better to use ganja than alcohol since anecdotal evidence and medical and social research seem to indicate that alcohol has caused greater harm than ganja has ever done. However, many people mix their substances and it is not as easy as saying one rather than the other. I advocate abstinence from narcotics like ganja and alcohol, I do not advocate prohibition. )

'Short man, leh de big man sit down outside nah" the driver asked the man waiting for me to go in the car
A hot Saturday afternoon - there is one car at the gas station in New Amsterdam . I am the last passenger. I am lucky that I don't have to wait long. The driver is cheerful guy, tall , wearing shades. He doesn't look like he will fly to Georgetown. A young man is in the front seat. I fold myself up between an elderly woman 'Gran' the driver calls her who has a bag near her feet because she doesn't want it in the trunk; and short man. I am more cuddled up next to short man because there is no space next to Gran.

Short man smelling of the liquor from the night before.  Car gets going and the breeze is nice through the window.  Short man is settling down. His bag next to his feet. I going home now, I was up hey a week he tells all.
He slowly removes his cap. He takes a joint from the cap puts it in his mouth. We catch the whiff.. I say aye man yuh can smoke in hey. Driver gives a nervous laugh.. man.. doan smoke.
short man holds the joint in his mouth and mumbles nah.
He takes off his shirt.. place is hot. He is sipping from a gatorade bottle which might not have gatorade in it.
The joint is in his mouth still as he puts on back his cap. He opens his bag and puts the shirt in. He finds a place to store the joint.
I remember other drivers telling me about people fetching Ecstasy and cocaine.
I seh aye man, I hope you aint got mo ting in deh.. driver says 'dey have police roadblock' . I wondering if to get out of the car. Gran smiling.

Short man says nah.. i just got two ziploc and a finey. Gran shake her head. Is not the first time I sitting next to a bag with ganja in it. Another night in another bus I realise the nervous man who was holding his bag close to him was also fetching weed. But two ziploc is trafficking amount. Is the amount that could get he and probably all of us .


I ask him if he got crack in the joint.. he say nah man.. what wrong to you.. he don't use cocaine.
There is something about the declaration. short man.. honest.. open.
Regent Street and some nice plantain chips are beckoning. The woman who is selling has on a white head wrap, long skirt, long sleeved blouse, dark lipstick. She has gold rings, a couple of piercings on her ears and one on her nose. I talk to her as she lights up her joint.  She seems me looking and she smiles.

I ask her if she sells and she laughs and says 'yeah, you want'...?  No fear.. . I ask her if she grows her own as well and she says yes. everything.. grow, sell .. she does.



The Camp Street jail has burned to the ground. I thought of the most recent set of people who were arrested - 7 of them . There are others who would have been caught up with the decriminalisation.

The COI into the last fire did not seem to recommend decriminalisation of marijuana usage so as to reduce the amount of people crowding the prisons.

People are open about their use of ganja. Middle class people on social media talk about using it. None of them have ever been arrested or questioned though. Two men I know told me of getting stoned with their children (young adults). None of the men have ever been in conflict with the law for marijuana usage or trade. They were not sure whether their dealers ever had problems with police.

As we drive down from New Amsterdam, short man points out a place where his friend lives, and then another place where he has worked a construction job. Short man doesn't seem to be into any other kind of criminal activity. 

"Marijuana induced psychosis'
A man who visited New Amsterdam Psychiatric Hospital recently said that a staff member told him that most of the persons who were patients were there for marijuana induced psychosis.  He was puzzled and said another person had suggested that the marijuana was now being mixed - "stained", with other chemicals, including pesticides and fertilisers which made it dangerous.

Marijuana has different effects on different people.  The use continues as it has for years, and it seems that jail is no deterrent for those who want to use it.

There were no calls from those who burnt down the jail for any action on marijuana. The jails will probably fill up again with marijuana traders and users before Guyana moves to decriminalise it.