Talk:Trinidad and Tobago

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Discussion for: Trinidad and Tobago • View • Links • Related changes

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Page scope

Trinidad and Tobago covers cannabis in Trinidad and Tobago: its arrival with Indian indentured labour, the colonial ganja ordinances from 1885 to 1961, the smuggling of ganja from Venezuela, its return in the 1960s and its place among the Rastafari of San Fernando, cultivation, trade, the law in force and enforcement. The Cannabis Control Act, 2022 has its own page, Cannabis Control Act, 2022; eradication reports of 2026 are gathered on Trinidad and Tobago eradication campaigns (2026).

Data verification

Record source conflicts, dating problems and sources not used here. Keep narrative content on the article.

Discussion

Sources

Colonial period. Jamie Banks's chapter in Cannabis: Global Histories (2021) on ganja, insanity and indentured labour in British Guiana and Trinidad, 1881–1912, which quotes the asylum reports, Pasley and the attorney general Garcia from the Colonial Office files. The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's report (1894), vol. I, ch. XIV, p. 271, where the Commission paraphrases Surgeon-Major Comins's Note on Emigration from India to Trinidad (1893) and quotes Trinidad's Protector of Immigrants, and vol. IV, p. 13, W. H. Grimley's evidence. J. H. Collens's Guide to Trinidad (2nd edition, 1888), pp. 118 and 210. Sarah Morton's edition of John Morton's papers (1916), pp. 199–200 and 231–232. Eron Ackerman's essay on Points (2014). The National Archives' catalogue entries for the Trinidad despatches of 1885, 1894 and 1899 that carried the ganja ordinances and the vote for the preventive station at the Bocas.
The ordinances of 1915 and 1928. The Ganja Ordinance, 1915 (No. 9 of 1915) and the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, 1928 (No. 28 of 1928), each cited by section from the printed text. The ordinances of 1885 (No. 13), 1894 (No. 22) and 1899 (No. 10) are cited from the catalogue descriptions of the despatches that carried them, from the Commission and from Banks.
1960s–1980s. Ansley Hamid, The Ganja Complex: Rastafari and Marijuana (2002), based on his fieldwork of 1975–1979 in San Fernando, Princes Town, a village near San Fernando he calls "Raw Deal" and a growing village near Rio Claro. His informants appear under pseudonyms; the article names none of them. Prices are in Trinidad and Tobago dollars.
Since 1991. The Dangerous Drugs Act, 1991 as enacted and in the unofficial consolidation updated to 31 December 2016; the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2019 and Legal Notice No. 397 of 2019, which fixed 23 December 2019 for its commencement; the Cannabis Control Act, 2022 and the Parliament's page for the Cannabis Control Bill, 2020, whose status line reads "Assent: Awaiting Proclamation"; the Parliament's page for the Miscellaneous Provisions (Alcohol, Cannabis, Dangerous Drugs, Gambling and Tobacco) Bill, 2026, for its long title, stages and votes.
Cultivation, trade and enforcement since 1999. The Trinidad and Tobago chapters of the US State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report for 1999, 2010, 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2025; each covers the previous year, or its first nine months. Police eradication reports in the Trinidad Guardian (2020–2026), and seizure reports in the Trinidad Express and from the Caribbean Media Corporation (2025).

Where the sources disagree

The first arrivals from India. Rubin and Comitas (1975, p. 16) date the first Indian arrivals in Trinidad and British Guiana to 1844; Banks counts Indian arrivals in both colonies from 1838; Hamid gives the mid-1840s (p. x) but elsewhere names the first ship the Fateh Rahman and dates it 1843 (p. xxxvi). The article follows the mid-1840s.
Morton's "Ganja grows here freely". Hamid (p. xl) dates the passage 1859. In Sarah Morton's edition (p. 200) it is undated and stands among entries of 1879–1880, so the article dates it to about 1880.
Icacos or Cedros. Banks (p. 66) writes that ganja was grown across Trinidad, "particularly in Cedros", citing Collens; Collens (p. 210) names Icacos, in the Cedros district, and places the production before the tax of 1885. Banks spells the place "Icasos".
A ban in 1925. English Wikipedia's article on cannabis in the country gives 1925 for a ban on cannabis. The Dangerous Drugs Ordinance of 1928 still provided for licensed imports of ganja and for its sale under regulations, and the 1950 revised edition still carried Raw Opium and Ganja Regulations.
Use between 1900 and 1960. Hamid (p. xli) found "virtually no use" between the early 1900s and 1960, apart from a few old men and small urban circles. The Trinidad Express feature of 2008, drawing on Gerry Besson, says ganja was still widely used in the countryside until the 1940s and 1950s. The same feature, through Besson, says the British and not the indentured labourers brought ganja to Trinidad; Banks, Morton and the Protector's report all tie it to the Indian immigrants, and the article follows them.
Hamid's counts. Hamid gives 25 "guerrillas" dead by February 1978 and, in the same passage, at least 33 men shot in operations against cultivation and sales (p. 112); elsewhere he has the 33rd shot in April 1978 (p. 97). For the Carnival of February 1979 he gives 150 Rastafari jailed in San Fernando (p. 91) and over 200 imprisoned (pp. 168–169). The article attributes the 33 and the 150 to him.
Seizures in 2005. The report of 2006 gives "over 100,000 kilograms of cannabis in various forms" seized in 2005. Every other year in the reports of 1999–2025 falls between about half a tonne and three tonnes, so the figure is not used.

Open points

The early ordinances. The texts of the ordinances of 1885, 1894 and 1899 are known only through the despatch titles, the Commission and Banks; so are the Ordinances Nos 279 and 280 that the 1915 Ordinance repealed. When licensed sale of ganja ended is not settled: the 1950 revised edition still carried the Raw Opium and Ganja Regulations, repealed with their Ordinance in 1961, and Hamid writes of restrictions in the 1930s.
Tobago. The colonial sources cited deal with Trinidad; none treats Tobago apart. Cultivation in Tobago appears from 1999, in the State Department's reports, and in police reports of 2025.
Local varieties. None of the sources names a local variety of cannabis. Hamid's lokey means "local" ganja as against the imported or pressed "Colombie" of 1979. The growers' seed in his cases came from Port of Spain or with ganja bought for sale, and his suggestion that growing survived in the south-east from the early 20th century is his own inference. The State Department's reports describe the local crop only by where and how it is grown.
Conservation. GBIF lists no preserved cannabis specimen from Trinidad and Tobago (2 November 2026).
The 2026 bill. The article takes the bill's long title, the Acts it amends and its stages from the Parliament's page. Press reports of its age limits are in the news items listed on the article; the bill's text is the source to settle them once it is enacted.
The police in the 1970s. Hamid's statements about individual police officers rest partly on the report of the Scott commission of 1986; the article carries none of them.