Cannabis fields in the Rif Mountains Source: the-misadventures-of-luciengrey.blogspot.nl
The People of Morrocco have always known the medicinal and economic value of the Cannabis Plant. For centuries. Farmers have been growing and processing Cannabis to be exported to markets throughout Europe. Although it is illegal to smoke hashish in Morocco, most of the men in the country smoke openly in cafes out of water pipes while drinking mint tea enthralled in card games and conversation with friends and family. The word ‘kif’ stems from the Arabic word for pleasure. Most of the Cannabis is grown and processed in the RIF Mountains in the North Eastern portion of Morocco. The region covers more than 11,000 square miles and supplies 70% of the European Hash Markets.
A bowl containing beaten kif.
Cannabis has been growing here since the 15th century. In the 60's and 70's people considered Morocco part of the Hippie Revolution, making the Country a popular travel spot. Back then, "kif" was produced for domestic use and fields of Cannabis were believed to cover only 5,000 hectres. Morocco obtained Pop Culture fame when legendary hashish producer Akmed (Hole in the Head) smoked white hashish with Timothy Leary at the base of Mt Tidiquin in the highest part of the Rif Mountains. There is the inexpensive commercial product and then the good stuff, which the locals call Oro Negro, or Black Gold. The quality hash from this region goes by many names including Ketama, Sputnik, Zero Zero, and King Hassan. Ketema Gold is the leading seller in Europe. Today, Moroccon Cannabis plants are estimated to cover more than 200,000 hectres.
The growing season here begins in March. Fields of sprouts are easily visible from the road. Farmers use rudimentary, labor intensive processes to create hash in stone houses built into the mountainsides. The plants are harvested from the fields anywhere from July to August and bunched together. The cannabis bunches are placed in drying rooms to cure before being made into hash using several different extraction techniques for a variety of end user products. The Hashish created ranges in color and texture, some sandy in consistency, some moist like clay. Many of the hashish produced ends up the same rusty color as the clay dirt found in the land here.
It's too dry in this region to grow regular vegetables. If this region of the World did not have Cannabis, they would be forced to work in cities for salaries, only a small portion of what they receive now. For many of these families, Cannabis is the only source of sustainable income available for food, shelter and other meager living expenses.
Recently, the European Union offered Farmers other options for livelihood strategies in an attempt to curb production. They realized quickly the farmers here are not willing to do anything but grow Cannabis for the purpose of Hashish.
An estimated one million people are thought to benefit annually on the cultivation of cannabis on more than 200,000 farms. For these poverty stricken families, Cannabis is their only option as a livelihood strategy and Hashish production techniques have been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years.
Morocco exports more than 3,000 tons of processed Hashish with estimated values of more than $10 billion. making Cannabis 10% of the Country’s economy.
Local officials have traditionally protected Cannabis Farmers from becoming a part of the larger War on Drugs with only a few scattered stories of corruption, bribery and failed attempts by the European Union to offer subsidies to farmers willing to grow other agricultural commodities. For the most part Cannabis is accepted in society as a way of life and it’s not changing any time soon.
It comes as no surprise as more countries relax Cannabis prohibition laws, Morrocco’s Parliament is considering draft legislation allowing farmers a legal system of regulation and distribution of Cannabis products. Leaders in the country see Cannabis as a way to draw foreign investment as pharmaceutical companies show more interest in distributing Cannabis medicines in global markets. Over the next three years, Governor Mohamed Boudra of Huciema-Taounate, the Country’s Northern region will be working with Parliament to enact a program designed to build confidence and strengthen ties between farmers and Morrocco’s ruling Monarchy under King Mohammad VI.
“We have to ensure that any legalization is done in an optimal fashion,”Abdelhalim Allaoui, a lawmaker with the ruling Justice and Development Party, told Business Week.“We need to establish what the medicinal virtues of the plant are and then think of exports, pharmaceutical industry developments, and how to draw foreign investment. This is a promising sector for the economy.” Business Week Article
For the families using Cannabis as a livelihood strategy and for the end user in the European Markets, this is all very good news highlighting the economic benefits of a plant known to sustain life in this region for centuries.
Reefer Madness was a propaganda
campaign executed by Harry Anslinger, newly appointed head of the US Narcotics
Bureau who targeted marijuana as a way to oppress what he considered inferior
races, mainly Latinos and African Americans. Their efforts included a movie
showing young men and women smoking marijuana just before engaging in lewd and
vicious acts including rape, manslaughter, suicide and decent into madness. The
mayhem was blamed on Marijuana and the movie shown in local theater houses
nationwide. Production of the movie was paid for by a church group with the
intent of teaching parents the dangers of cannabis use. The results of the
efforts manifested in the form of The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 marking the
beginning of Marijuana prohibition, still in effect today.
Jazz Music, along with Marijuana was
popular with young Americans in the years leading up to prohibition. For this reason, Jazz plays an intricate part
in the history of Marijuana Prohibition in America and Jazz Musicians have long
been targets for Federal Enforcement Agents looking to set examples of Cannabis
users for the sake of justifying their unsubstantiated claims regarding the
safety of its use. The relationship, however, between Marijuana and Jazz music
goes far beyond the justification of a newly formed Federal agency or that of a
single man’s political career. Marijuana Smoke and Jazz beats have done more
than just intermingled above the heads of students in the tea houses of Harlem
or followed a slowly moving horn section through the night air down a New
Orleans side street. The relationship between Marijuana and Jazz music
represents the discontent of citizens beginning to feel the oppression of a
Government overstepping its bounds by working to create laws prohibiting the
use of a plant meant to serve the people as a source of medicine, food, fuel
and fiber.
Most cultures use music as a way to
express political dissent or record history from the People’s perspective, not
just that of those enjoying the most power over the recording of historical
facts at the time. One song mentioning Marijuana, or ‘Marihuana’ is the Jazz
Score La Cucaracha, whose lyrics
originate from the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Mexican war refugees migrated
North crossing the border into United States Territories singing La Cucaracha
which roughly translates as follows:
Spanish
English
La
cucaracha, la cucaracha,
The
cockroach, the cockroach,
ya
no puede caminar
can't
walk anymore
porque
le falta, porque no tiene
because
it's lacking, because it doesn't have
marihuana
pa' fumar.
marijuana
to smoke.
Ya
murió la cucaracha
The
cockroach just died
ya
la llevan a enterrar
now
they take her to be buried
entre
cuatro zopilotes
among
four buzzards
y
un ratón de sacristán.
and
a mouse as the sexton.
The refugees were called ‘Villists’
following Pancho Villa, a commander of the North Division. He was considered
the Robin Hood of the Mexican Revolution leading his people to commandeer
trains and steal from the rich. Whatever was confiscated was distributed to the
poorest peasants and villagers. The cockroach was President Victoriano Huerta,
notorious for his heavy consumption of alcohol. He had established a harsh and
military dictatorship in Mexico. Pancho, executing military campaigns until his
death, was assassinated on May 21, 1920. Huerta resigned the Presidency
on July 15, 1914 and went into exile. He traveled to the United States by way
of Jamaica arriving in 1915 where he was convicted on conspiracy charges for
violating US Neutrality Laws and imprisoned. He died in prison of sclerosis of
the liver in 1916.
President Victoriano Huerta
Pancho Villa, Wanted Poster
It is unclear whether the lyrics are insinuating that had
Huerta had marihuana he wouldn’t have chosen alcohol or the addiction was his
eventual downfall, but considering the refugees who had the song on their
tongues crossing the border did so with large suitcases full of the plant, it
may be safe to assume the former. This exodus represents Anslinger’s reason for
including Mexicans in his Reefer Madness campaign in the first place. Reefer
Madness Jazz Musician Louis Armstrong remade the song in 1935, two years before
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.
Harlem, New York
Mezz Mezzrow
Reefer Madness Jazz Musician Mezz
Mezzrow moved to Harlem in 1929. He began selling marijuana enjoying instant
success is both the white and black Jazz communities. Back then, folks came
together in "Tea Houses" to obtain and smoke marijuana. Located in apartments all over Harlem, Tea Houses
served as the backdrop for many moments in Reefer Madness History. At one point,
historians note more than 500 of these speakeasy establishments in operation. Mezz was so popular, he had a marijuana
cigarette rolling style named after him called the "Mezz-Role". These
Marijuana cigarettes were packed heavy and rolled tight.
Photo from the Making Friends Jazz Tribute
When Mezz moved to Harlem, he began performing with another popular Jazz Musician, Eddie Condon. Condon had only just arrived in New York himself the previous year from Chicago where he spent most of his 20's playing banjo, guitar and served as band leader on multiple occasions. The two made a good team, Mezzrow having denounced white society during a period of history where segregation was a large part of every day life and Condon was known for forming racially integrated musical groups. Although white, they managed to become the largest marijuana dealers in Harlem at the time.
Mezzrow married a black woman and declared himself a voluntary negro. In 1940, when he was sent to prison for possession with intent to distribute 40 marijuana cigarettes, he demanded to be sent to the segregated negro prison. In his biography Really the Blues, he writes: "Just as we were having our pictures taken for the rogues' gallery,
along came Mr. Slattery the deputy and I nailed him and began to talk
fast. 'Mr. Slattery,' I said, 'I'm colored, even if I don't look it, and
I don't think I'd get along in the white blocks, and besides, there
might be some friends of mine in Block Six and they'd keep me out of
trouble'. Mr. Slattery jumped back, astounded, and studied my features
real hard. He seemed a little relieved when he saw my nappy head. 'I
guess we can arrange that,' he said. 'Well, well, so you're Mezzrow. I
read about you in the papers long ago and I've been wondering when you'd
get here. We need a good leader for our band and I think you're just
the man for the job'. He slipped me a card with 'Block Six' written on
it. I felt like I'd got a reprieve."
Stuff Smith's song "You's a Viper" referenced Mezz Mezzrow directly, "Dreamed about a reefer five foot long, The mighty Mezz, but not too strong, You'll be high, but not for long, If you're a Viper." Vipers even had a slogan. "Light up and be Somebody." in spite of general public consensus being in favor of prohibitionists. Jazz music was rebelling the propaganda by showing social acceptance in closed 'members only' clubs where those who weren't cool were not allowed.
Ella Fitzgerald being booked in Houston
Jazz artists paid a hefty price for their pro marijuana lyrics and culture. For the next several decades, Jazz musicians would be the target of law enforcement as they sought to validate the need for a Federal Narcotics Unit and the tax payer dollars being allocated to the Department through congress. Raids were not always about Marijuana. Law Enforcement officers looked for anything and everything they could use to vilify Jazz Musicians.
Singer Ellie Fitzgerald who often toured and played with Reefer Madness Jazz Musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Houstonian Illinois Jacquet, jazz impresario Norman Granz and Georgiana Henry. Ellie was arrested for throwing dice in her dressing room with these musicians in 1955 just before a performance at the Houston Music Hall. Fitzgerald dabbed tears from her eyes as she was being booked.
“I have nothing to say,” she told reporters. “What is there to say? I was only having a piece of pie and a cup of coffee.” Ella wrote and sang the popular Reefer Madness Tune "When I get Low, I get High".
San Francisco
Gene Krupa being arrested.
Reefer Madness Jazz Musician Gene Kruba was
arrested in San Francisco on January 21, 1943 for contributing to the delinquency
of a minor when Law Enforcement Agents intercepted the 17 year old sent back to
Gene's hotel to retrieve his marijuana cigarettes as he was returning to the theater.
Gene Kruba's account of his arrest:
"By then I was the glamour boy-15 camel hair coats, three trunks around me
all the time-and he couldn't think what to get me. Finally he thought, 'Gee
I'll get Gene some grass.' At that time California was hot as a pistol, you could park your car for a bottle
of beer and get arrested. So he had a rough time getting the stuff. He probably
shot his mouth off a little-'I'm getting this for the greatest guy in the
world, Gene Krupa.' Gene decided to leave the marijuana at his hotel. The
police, being tipped off, began searching the theater where Gene's band was
currently playing. "I suddenly remembered the stuff's at the hotel where
they're going next. So I call up my new valet and say, 'Send my laundry out. In
one of my coats you'll find some cigarettes. Throw them down the toilet.' But
the kid puts them in his pocket and the police nail him on the way out, so I
get arrested." "The ridiculous thing was that I was such a boozer I
never thought about grass. I'd take grass, and it would put me to sleep. I was
an out-and-out lush. Oh, sure, I was mad. But how long can you stay mad? So
long you break out in rashes? Besides, the shock of the whole thing probably
helped me. I might have gone to much worse things. It brought me back to
religion."
During this time, Jazz was all the rage in San Francisco's Fillmore District where clubs lined the streets jazz beats lingering in the foggy night air. During the 40's and 50's Fillmore became known as the "Harlem of the West" attracting the same musicians who frequented the clubs of New York.
Some of the early clubs include The New Orleans
Swing Club, Club Alabama, Jackson's Nook and The California Theater Club. Bop
City, the most popular of the neighborhood venues, opens in 1950. The area has since been revitalized, museums holding remnants of the area's deep African American Jazz Culture. Clubs remain open to this day and the area serves as a tourist spot for San Francisco attracting millions of visitors annually.
Jazz music from the 20's through the 60's was about more than social acceptance with regards to Marijuana use, but also contained deep emotional tones as African Americans dealt with segregation and blatant racism on a daily basis. Jazz music served as an avenue for expressing dissent with the oppressive laws forcing African Americans to see themselves as an inferior race. Reefer Madness songs consistently displayed characteristics of a counter propaganda campaign meant to repair the collective self esteem of a race of people being crippled in its attempts to feel validated and equal in the Civil Rights Movement. Just as the Mexican refugees crossing the border with suitcases of marijuana singing songs of their dissent record their history with music, the Jazz movement would forever crystallize the emotions of those oppressed, so future generations are able to consider when creating higher reality for themselves.
