Jamaican officials have established a movement that’s particularly created to advance public education around cannabis—an effort to contemporize how citizens obtain information about cannabis.
The focal point of the “Good Ganja Sense” movement is a new site that grants resources and blogs on cannabis’s health effects and usefulness looks to disprove myths about cannabis and contains multimedia education materials like ad videos with an incredibly catchy tune.
Last month, The Ministry of Health and Wellness formally rolled out the site. In a press statement, the head of The Ministry of Health and Wellness, Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, stated that it contains various aids that will surely promote more talk about cannabis.
‘The couriers give a backdrop on the movement, links to multimedia articles, and also connect directly to the site of the National Council on Drug Abuse,” she stated. “It has a connection form too, so you can get in contact with the ‘Good Ganja’ organization.”
“We operate in a digital world where citizens are finding data for themselves, and the data may be inaccurate, or it very well may be valid, leaning on where they go,” Cuthbert-Flynn stated. “Cannabis will no longer be undermined by what has been passed down via verbal traditions and old myths, but fact-based data that is now obtainable at the fingertips.”
As a portion of that measure to produce facts on cannabis issues, the new website hosts a myth-busting portion that debunks ideas that cannabis use makes people slothful, that it lowers sperm count, that it leads people to seek out more dangerous drugs, and more.
One section focuses on whether cannabis can cause fatal overdoses, noting a Drug Enforcement Administration fact anecdote that reports that no cannabis-causes overdose death has ever been documented.
“Thanks, DEA,” the website states. “The professionals have spoken.”
The education endeavor also hosts public transportation ads that demand people to “Burn Ganja Myths” and versus “Go With The Science.”
Officials debated the launch of the new site at a press briefing last month.
There’s possibly no country more closely tied with cannabis culture than Jamaica, and officials representing the island of Jamaica have labored to construct upon that cannabis-centric reputation.
In 2018, for instance, a Jamaican lawmaker expressed cannabis as the country’s “birthright” and clamored for the speedy research and development of indigenous cannabis strains.
Former Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture, and Fisheries Audley Shaw stated while he was in office back in 2019 that the Jamaican government would be instilling stress on the U.S. Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that would protect banks that assist state-legal cannabis businesses.
However, the strong cultural bonds between Jamaica and cannabis are not enough. Cuthbert-Flynn states that there’s been an understanding fissure on the science of cannabis that leaves various residents depending on word of mouth for data.
‘We understand the former very well too, the ills and rushes associated with the world wide web—a lot of false health information has been shared far and wide via technology, however, today, we can put the right data out into the appropriate space,” she stated. “But today, with science and technology in unison, Jamaica now has in its back pocket a resource that puts into context legislation, medicinal data, and a general evidence-based discussion that can change the perspectives and manners that Jamaicans hold towards cannabis.’
Even during a pandemic, Jamaica continues to be a popular tourist destination. As aforementioned, the country is heavily associated with cannabis. Moreover, some of the associations contain myths. The aforementioned website also helps demystify ideas of Jamaica and cannabis held by people not privy to the island. The website will be utilized comprehensively.