Jesse Jendah, the artiste who offered ganja to P.J.

As the world was about to reach across into the new millennium, controversial, firebrand reggae artiste and devout Rastafarian, Jesse Jendah, inserted himself in the history books. At a meeting at Jamaica House for members of the entertainment industry, he boldly offered then Prime Minister P.J. Patterson a parcel containing a quarter-pound of high-grade herb. Ganja was then still totally illegal. Patterson politely refused, and Jendah was vilified and accused of disrespecting the leader.

Today, the laws have been relaxed, Jendah is a legal ganja farmer and Patterson has been integral in a movement advocating the benefits of medical marijuana.

"We deh pon di ranch. We get the (ganja) licence," he told THE WEEKEND STAR triumphantly.

The herbalist was reluctant to share details of the farm's location, but said that he has "a large cultivation" and is looking at the possibility of expansion.

But for Jendah, that incident in the summer of 1999, to this day, is still psychologically draining, and he says he can still remember the "look of scorn" from his peers and Patterson.

"When I heard that P.J. wanted to see us, I immediately had a plan. So I drove to Westmoreland to pick up a pound of purple skunk, the best weed anywhere in the world, and brought it into town. We were invited to sit around a mahogany table. Muta was there, Tony Rebel, King Jammys, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer and others. I had on a khaki suit with a jacket and I had wrapped up a quarter-pound of the purple skunk and put it in my pocket," Jendah recalled.

GANJA TOURISM

He indicated to the gathering that he wanted to speak, and engaged Patterson in a conversation about the benefits of ganja tourism for health and recreational purposes, using places such as California, Holland and Sweden, where the laws were already relaxed, as examples. Jendah had visited Holland in the mid-90s as part of Fattis Burrell's Xterminator crew, "and the first place they took us was the ganja cafe, where we bought a joint for the equivalent of US$25".

He told Patterson that Hugo Chavez wouldn't always be in power in Venezuela to give Jamaica oil at a good price, so the country needed to look at ganja.

Jendah told THE WEEKEND STAR: "All this while I was talking to P.J., I was trying to get the parcel of weed out my jacket pocket. But it looked like it swell, and it wouldn't come out. So I was there trying to discreetly remove it, and it finally happened."

H"P.J. was shocked, and everybody in the room swear seh mi was going to get lock up now. The PM looked at me for what felt like a minute. Then King Jammys broke the tension when him ask a question.

He said: 'So, Sah, yuh not accepting the gift, Sah?' P.J. looked at Jammys and then looked back at me and said, 'Thanks, but no thanks'."

Jendah said that after that, he "got the frowns and the disrespect" from members of the industry, "but imagine, 15 years later, this same former Prime Minister Patterson at a Rebel Salute launch referred to ganja as Jamaica's green gold. It's good that he woke up to the truth."

Jendah, who is still focused on his music career and who recently released two new tracks, says he is looking forward to the day when he meets the former prime minister face to face for a real discourse on ganja.