Harvard law professor bats for fair trade of Ja ganja

Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:Harvard University's law professor Charles Nessen says the Westmoreland Hemp and Ganja Farmers Association (WHGFA) could take steps in protecting the interest of Rastafari and small ganja farmers by legally registering themselves as cooperatives.

Professor Nessen made the comments during his keynote address at the WHGFA's second monthly meeting which was held at the MXIII Lawn in Negril, Westmoreland, on Sunday.

The professor had flown back to Jamaica specifically to address the meeting after having met with the association's chairman, Ras Iyah-V, at the launch of the Jamaica Ganja Future Growers in Kingston earlier this month.

His comments came after having read an article published in last Saturday's edition of Western Focus in which chairman of the WHGFA, Ras Iyah-V, expressed concerns and mistrust about the newly formed Ganja Future Growers Association, which, he said, among other things, appeared not to be looking out for the interests of Rastafari and authentic ganja farmers.

"I heard him (Iyah-V) say that, for him, the issue is a matter of life and death," Professor Nessen said. "Now what was the issue to which he was speaking? It's the interest of small farmers. It's the interest of people who grow ganja. And further reading the comments in The Gleaner, he raised the question of the place of Rastafari in the unfolding legalisation process going forward in Jamaica. One way of thinking about this process is that, that is exactly what it is about, the place of Rastafari in Jamaican culture.

"He sees the commission in Kingston rolling forward. He sees it without sufficient respect for Rastafari. He feels the consequence will be that the big guys will take it all, and that somehow the small farmer will wind up a sharecropper rather than a shareholder. That's worrying. So the question is how to approach it. I worry about the approach I have heard which has in it a kind of belligerence that is borne of injustice. And I look for some alternatives, because when I look at this commission in Kingston, it looks like it's going forward. If we are looking for a strategy to protect the small farmer, it's not gonna be (about) stopping that commission," Professor Nessen stated. "I am an advocate for global legalisation of fair trade organic marijuana. I believe that Jamaica has a powerful role to play in leading the world to that standard."

Fair trade is that in which fair prices are paid to producers in developing countries, in this case, ganja farmers, after legalisation.

ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES

In furthering his position, Professor Nessen suggested alternative strategies to what he said was "the government deploying its licensing structures and signing everyone up".

"Let us suppose that a Canadian company were to come forward with an offer to the WHGFA, to purchase a large amount of high-grade marijuana at CAN$1 per gram. Could you get your act together to get the contract? Could you figure out how to divide up the money in some way that would be fair? Could you do it in a way that took into account the interest of the Government? In fact, could you organise the transaction in such a way that no one would have objection to it?," he asked.

The professor said he had already discussed the WHGFA's "involvement in an export company" with Iyah V.

"These companies are non-profit cooperatives under Jamaican law, run by a steering committee. And a cooperative under Jamaican law is remarkably easy to establish, legally speaking. Cooperatives carry dispute resolution procedures for each of the forms of farmers and could be led by a steering committee that is well trusted," he said.

Professor Nessen also said issues relating to the problem that Jamaica faces, with respect to the domestic legalisation of marijuana and the international export of marijuana, needed to be sorted out quickly.

"With respect to the domestic, there are serious issues to be worked out. There is politics that needs to take place, attitudes about children and public places. But with export, from Jamaica's point of view, I can't see a single reason why Jamaican shouldn't, as quickly as it can possibly manage it, take advantage of the fact that there is an opening global world market in legal marijuana that Jamaica can fill with its product," he said.

"In conclusion, the biggest danger that Jamaica faces is that you will talk yourself to death on the legalisation issue. If you can manage to structure the deal so that it works for everyone so that no one has no real objection, then if the dollars are big enough for everyone - you, government (of Jamaica), Canada, if the dollars are big enough to go for, then it can be done. That's the unity that is needed. If you can pull that off, Babylon be gone!" the professor said.