Ganja tonic
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| Kind | Traditional medicine |
|---|---|
| Part of the plant | Whole plant |
| Also called | ganja-rum tonic |
| Country | Jamaica |
|---|---|
| Recorded in | Ganja in Jamaica (1975) |
| First recorded | 1975[1]: 50 |
| Still made | Not known |
A ganja tonic (also ganja-rum tonic) is a Jamaican remedy made by pouring rum, or wine and rum, over ganja, bottling it and leaving it to set. In the early 1970s it was taken in small doses to keep well and against illness, and was also applied to wounds and to newborn children, as the anthropologists Vera Rubin and Lambros Comitas recorded.[1]: 50–51[2]: 124–125
Making ganja tonic
The tonics described to Rubin and Comitas used green ganja, or green or dried, in rum, wine, or both. They were set aside for periods given variously as two days ("until it's clear"), fifteen days, a month and up to three months, and one maker added water before use.[1]: 50
Use
It was measured by the teaspoon or the small wine glass: one or two teaspoons twice a day, a teaspoon every morning before breakfast, a small wine glass morning and night before meals, or half a teaspoon at bedtime or when sick or "harried". Some took it two or three times a week or when they fell ill or caught cold. It was poured into iced water for "bellyache" or drowsiness, and a few drops went into children's feeds when they were noisy; one informant held that children should have it every day.[1]: 50
The tonic also went on the skin. For pain and open wounds, green ganja leaves were laid on the place and wrapped round with a thin cloth soaked in ganja tonic. Older women advised washing a newborn with ganja leaves and applying ganja-rum tonic gently to its anterior fontanelle, to keep off colds and other ailments and to help it grow.[1]: 51
Non-smoking users held that tonics, like ganja tea, entered the blood and strengthened it against disease.[1]: 55 Men going abroad for farm work took ganja tea or tonic for some months before they left.[1]: 55
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Rubin, Vera; Comitas, Lambros (1975). Ganja in Jamaica: A Medical Anthropological Study of Chronic Marihuana Use. The Hague: Mouton. doi:10.1515/9783110812077.
- ↑ Comitas, Lambros (1975). "The social nexus of ganja in Jamaica". In Rubin, Vera (ed.). Cannabis and Culture. The Hague: Mouton. pp. 119–132. doi:10.1515/9783110812060.119.