This article is the tenth in a series that looks at the cannabis plant in different countries around the world. Working as a manager for Green House Seed Company I had the chance of travelling to quite a number of destinations worldwide, and after many years of experiencing firsthand the ups and downs of many places, it is with great pleasure and pride that I am sharing this information with all Canamo readers. This month we have a look at one of the most beautiful and exclusive islands of the Caribbean:
Antigua.
In the next issue I will look at St. Lucia, and later on I will end my series with Barbados and St. Vincent.
Antigua is one of the most amazing islands in the Caribbean, with warm, steady winds, a complex coastline of safe harbours and white-sand beaches, and a protective, nearly unbroken wall of coral reef. It would make a perfect place to hide a fleet. And so in 1784 the legendary Admiral Horatio Nelson sailed to Antigua and established Great Britain's most important Caribbean base. Little did he know that over 200 years later the same unique characteristics that attracted the Royal Navy would have transformed Antigua in one of the Caribbean's premier tourist destination.
Until the development of tourism in the last 25 years, Antiguans struggled for prosperity, crushed under a racist colonial heritage. The rise of a strong labour movement in the 1940s provided the will to fight for independence. In 1967, together with the sister-island of Barbuda and the tiny island of Redonda, Antigua became a State of the Commonwealth (UK), and in 1981 it finally achieved full independency. Antiguans are now very proud of their identity, and they know they own one of the most exclusive tourist spots on the planet. Yet they maintain a very down-to-earth style, making strangers feel at ease in a matter of seconds.
Arriving on the island one cannot help to notice the happy and relaxed attitude of the locals, who now live mostly on the profits of tourism, and are between the richest people in the Caribbean (average pro-capita income). The island caters to an upscale market, with expensive resorts and numerous golf courses and yacht harbours, but it is still possible to travel on a budget, by staying in small guesthouses or B&Bs. Contrarily to Jamaica, cannabis is not openly smoked on Antigua, but most of the locals consider themselves Rastafarians and use plenty of cannabis on a daily basis. The sacred herb is mostly smoked in the chalice, a water pipe made with a coconut shell and a plastic hose, or in short, thick joints (there are no long rolling papers on the island, so it is a good idea to bring them with you if you plan a trip). Most Antiguans are of African lineage, descendants of the slaves that were brought to the island centuries ago to work in the sugarcane fields. However, Antigua's history of habitation goes as far back as two millennia before Christ. The first settlements, dating from about 2400 B.C were those of the Siboney (a word meaning "stone-people"), whose beautifully crafted shell and stone tools have been found at dozens of sites around the island. But they did not have cannabis. The plant got to Antigua from India, with the slaves. And it thrived ever since.
The law is very strict against cannabis, with mandatory sentences for trafficking even small quantities. But at the same time there are signals that the government is starting to acknowledge the religious role of cannabis in the Rastafarian society. Back in 2003, Prime Minister Lester Bird proposed to legalize cannabis for use in Rastafarian religious ceremonies under government control. Of course the proposal never made it into law, because of the pressure of the American government (the number one investor on the island and a key importer of local products). But in practice the local authorities tend to close an eye when locals smoke in the privacy of their home or during their religious ceremonies. Tourists are generally safe inside the privacy of their resorts (or boats), but it is not cool to smoke openly while touring around on the island, and especially not on the resort’s beaches (constantly guarded by private security and local Police).
On Antigua there are several strains well established as “local weed†(Antigua Gold, Shark’s Breath, Blue Lagoon), all of them sativa/indica crosses coming from other islands or from Europe/USA. But the bulk of the bud that is smoked is imported from the island of St. Vincent (the largest producer in the Caribbean). Most of the production happening on Antigua is located in the South-West of the island, under the tick forest canopy in rugged mountain areas, near Botts Peak mountain. The Rastas disappear into the forest in March or April with a bag of seeds, find a suitable spot, and then plant batches of few hundreds seeds, very well camouflaged, usually on steep slopes. Then they come back a few weeks later to select and clear up the patches from the rapidly growing vegetation. One more visit at the beginning of the flowering to remove the males (not very successfully, one or two always manage to escape the check and pollinate the crop….), and then back the last time for the harvest, in September-October. The bud is roughly manicured wet on the spot, then transported to safe houses for the drying. During these stages the quality of the product usually drops, as the drying is done as fast as possible and there is very little curing. Usually the stash is pressed in bricks for long-term storage. Sometimes the crops are dried in tin shacks near the grow area, but this practice has resulted in a few busts and has been abandoned.
The weed imported from other islands (mostly Martinique and St. Vincent) is usually lower in quality compared with local bud, mostly due to the longer storage and transportation/packaging issues. The flow guarantees there is always plenty of bud available on the island, but the quality varies a lot from batch to batch, and sometimes it’s very hard to score a good smoke without a trusted local contact. Prices vary as well, ranging between 2 and 5 US$ per gram, depending on quality and availability.
Antigua is a great holiday destination, but it requires a bit of care and a bit of daring to be fully appreciated in its cannabis glory. Sunny, sandy, stoned holidays are waiting…
Peace, Love & THC
Franco – Green House Seed Co.
This content is copyright of Green House Seed Co. © Green House Seed Co. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following:You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now