Ganja fields fuel crime

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Glenmore Hinds said elimination of the ganja fields across Jamaica would be a key strategy for stemming the flow of guns into the country.



He said every half-acre of the weed could mean six guns entering the country.



ACP Hinds is warning small farmers that by growing the illegal plant they are luring criminals into the country and fueling the country’s crime rate.



He explained that what is described as high-grade ganja is usually smuggled into the United States through Haiti.



He said the Haitian market consumes the variety called bush weed and that it is bush weed that is traded for guns.



According to ACP Hinds an average of 10 to 20 guns return on each boat that leaves Jamaica for Haiti.



ACP Hinds said a decrease in the ganja supply would put a serious dent in the drugs for guns trade and Jamaica’s crime rate.



He has disclosed that in October when the police destroyed more than 100 acres of ganja the trade was stifled and no Jamaican boats left for Haiti for a while.