Toco–Matelot
More actions
| Toco–Matelot | |
|---|---|
| ActiveCannabis last recorded here in 2023 | |
| Geography | |
| Country | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Coordinates | 10.8368, -60.9377 |
| Landscape | |
| Terrain | Rain forest of the north-eastern corner of Trinidad, between Toco at the north-eastern tip and Matelot on the north coast |
| Growing history | |
| Dated news reports | 2023 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Toco–Matelot is a cannabis growing area in the forests of the north-eastern corner of Trinidad, between Toco and Matelot. In the 1970s, according to the anthropologist Ansley Hamid, Rastafari growers were the first to move into the more inaccessible rain forests of this coast.[1]: 43
Geography
Toco stands at the north-eastern tip of Trinidad, and Matelot further west along the north coast. Both lie in the region of Sangre Grande. The area takes in the forested land along this coast, where Hamid places the growing near Matelot, Toco and Cumana.[1]: 43
History
The growers Hamid first studied, in 1975, were Indian smallholders near the rain forests of the south-east (see Rio Claro–Mayaro).[1]: 38 He describes a later development: the settlement of villages by young urban Africans, all of them Rastafari and former city dealers, who began to grow marijuana themselves.[1]: 42 They sold only to other Rastafari, on trust and without scales, which they called "an instrument of Babylon".[1]: 42 The Rastafari, he writes, were "the pioneers in moving into the more inaccessible rain forests, such as those northward along the eastern coast", near Matelot, Toco and Cumana.[1]: 43 By about 1977 a Rastafari from San Fernando had begun growing near Toco.[1]: 73
Fields reported since 2000
- June 2023, Toco: officers of the Toco police station destroyed 60 grown trees and 30 seedlings planted in an open lot of land in the district.[2]
Appellations
No appellations documented yet.
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
| Article | Date | Category |
|---|---|---|
| News:2023-06-17/Eradication/toco-police-destroy-60-cannabis-trees-and-30-seedlings-off-the-toco-main-road | Eradication |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Hamid, Ansley (2002). The Ganja Complex: Rastafari and Marijuana. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. ISBN 0-7391-0360-1. LCCN 2002004715.
- ↑ "$100k in marijuana destroyed by Toco Police". Trinidad Guardian. 20 June 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2026.