Bob marley ganja is my brain
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Marley's music was heavily influenced by the social issues of his homeland, and he is considered to have given voice to the specific political and cultural nexus of Jamaica. Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited with helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers (1963-1974) and Bob Marley & The Wailers (1974–1981). Nesta Robert "Bob" Marley, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. Rastas island-wide have praised the change that has finally allowed them to imbibe the holy herb without fear of persecution, but many feel the legislation has not gone far enough.Jamaican singer, songwriter and musician. The University of the West Indies has since launched the Cannabis Research Group, planting the nation’s first legal ganja stalk at its uptown Kingston campus on April 20th, with singer Kiddus-I on hand to ceremonially baptize the plant with herb smoke. Jamaican academic Sonjah Stanley-Niaah went so far as to call for the launching of a national ganja industry, with Jamaica fully in charge of its own large-scale production and export.
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However, the island’s lawmakers have opted not to allow full legalization, and the legislation introduced so far continues to generate widespread local and international debate. Given the drastic nature of the Deane case, such legislation seems long overdue. On April 15th, Justice Minister Mark Golding officially announced amendments to Jamaica’s Dangerous Drugs Act, which mean that anyone caught with up to two ounces of weed “for recreational, religious or medical use” will now face a small fine, and cannot be arrested or changed for the possession. Recent changes in Jamaican legislation made it look as though the Rasta’s prayers were finally answered, since a bill partially decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of weed was approved by the cabinet last February. Nevertheless, Rastafari continued to grow in numbers across the island, and the ceremonial use of herb never diminished amongst its followers, despite different versions of the vilifying “War on Drugs” being rolled out in Jamaica over the years. The destruction of the commune and scattering of Howell’s acolytes was a severe blow to the Rastafari movement, making ganja a temporarily scarce commodity. However, Pinnacle suffered a brutally punitive raid in 1954 and another in 1958, the wanton violence of the latter causing its total dispersal.
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In her book The First Rasta, exploring the life of the charismatic Rastafari leader Leonard Howell, Helene Lee suggests that Howell’s Pinnacle commune had a symbiotic relationship with local police, who allowed the widespread cultivation of ganja at Pinnacle during the early 1950s, sold across the island through an underground network established by a corrupt businessman, in exchange for lucrative backhanders.
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The authorities’ approaches to ganja have often been dramatically contradictory in Jamaica. Indeed, last August, a young man from Montego Bay named Mario Deane was beaten to death after being detained with a single spliff. Nevertheless, since 1954, following pressure exerted by the British and American governments to end the ganja trade, marijuana has remained strictly illegal in the country, and locals often faced harsh penalties for possession. Ganja became entrenched in black working class culture in Jamaica during the early decades of the 20th Century. Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It” may be the ultimate toker’s anthem, yet it was locally banned when first released. But many don’t realize the country’s strange relationship with the drug over the years. Many of the music’s best-known exponents have been followers of Rastafari, who hold the “wisdom weed” as an herbal sacrament. Just as acid rock will always be linked to LSD and whiskey with country & western, reggae has cannabis hardwired into its DNA.