After a 2018 amnesty, the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines is now backing Rastafarian growers’ efforts to promote the benefits of marijuana

On Golba Hill on the Caribbean island of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), just below a cluster of colourfully decorated homes, there are rows and rows of premium marijuana plants. Gleaming like green gold in the Caribbean sun, they lead up to a crudely constructed hut where cannabis farmer Bobbis Matthews spends most of his time nurturing and protecting his precious field.

As he did his routine inspection, removing male plants that could diminish the potency of his crop, Matthews recalled a time, not too long ago, when the idea of a cannabis farm in a residential area was unthinkable.