Rastafari community of Antigua gain sacramental rights to marijuana

Name: Rastafari community of Antigua gain sacramental rights to marijuana
Uploaded: 02 Jun 2023, 06:06:48 PM
Duration: 04:23
Channel: TIMESOFINDIA.COM

| Jun 02, 2023, 06:06:48 PM | AP

For decades, members of the Rastafari community have been persecuted and imprisoned for their ritualistic use of marijuana.Ras Kiyode Erasto suffered bullying and discrimination growing up.At one point, he said, his mother had to cut his dreadlocks so he could be allowed in school.But the tiny islands of Antigua and Barbuda recently became one of the first Caribbean nations to grant Rastafari official sacramental authorization to grow the herb.For Rastafari, the practice and use of marijuana brings them closer to the divine.Ras Kiyode - now a priest with the Ras Freeman Foundation for the Unification of Rastafari - calls it a food source aiding them into meditation and a deeper consciousness.Prime Minister Gaston Browne says his government took this step to try to bring respect to the Rastafari faith.Rastafari member Shakie Straker, mother of Ras Kiyode, says that the situation on the island is 100% better since they gained sacramental rights and credits the prime minister.The change came after the government decriminalized cannabis in 2018 and later made it legal for medicinal use.Earlier this year, Browne met with Rastafari groups and granted them legal licenses from the country's medical cannabis authority to grow the plant for religious purposes.He now feels his country is now one of the most accepting of Rastafari.Through a government lease, a former sugar cane plantation - symbol of slavery and British colonial oppression - has been transformed into worship grounds, sustainable farmland and the headquarters for the Ras Freeman Foundation.The foundation is one of the island’s main Rastafari groups.On a recent Sunday, members met to cook an ital meal, a full vegetarian diet used by Rastafari.They held a worship service within their tabernacle, singing, beating drums, waving Rastafari flags in the green, gold and red colors of the faith, and smoking marijuana.Rastafari priest Ras Tashi hopes his community can utilize the plant and the land to help his people financially and elevate themselves economically.The small nation of about 100,000 people has gone further than regional efforts by larger countries, and hopes to set a global example.As public opinion and policy around marijuana continues to shift across the world, Rastafari in Antigua and Barbuda continue to push for broader relaxation and full legalization of the plant.