Is Jamaica really flying high on 4/20?

Unless you have a total of 3 friends on Snapchat or you just don’t have Snapchat (Yes, these people do exist although they’re a dying breed.); you’ve seen the Bob Marley filter. They’re all over your friends’ stories and let’s face it – you might even be guilty of having it on your own story. The filter gives you dreadlocks and blackface (although that’s a whole different problem) and according to Snapchat, allows for people to share their “appreciation for Bob Marley” in honour of 4/20. 

However, this is quite frankly offensive. Yes, Bob Marley was an advocate for marijuana but first and foremost, he was a humanitarian. A voice for the voiceless, he sung about equal rights, poverty and the fairness of government. He was the first and only person to get both Jamaican political party leaders on the same stage to shake hands with each other. He travelled to impoverished African countries and was able to speak about and quell the violence happening in those areas for a short time. Not to mention the fact that he revolutionized Jamaica and the world’s music scene. With all that and more on his CV, Snapchat has reduced him to a stoner. There’s nothing wrong with being a stoner but if Sigmund Freud isn’t more reveled for being a cocaine addict than being the Father of Modern Psychology; why is Bob Marley reveled as a stoner?  

Then there’s the cultural appropriation. Bob Marley smoked weed because he was a Rastafarian. A pious man, he stressed that he didn’t smoke recreationally. Ganja to him and all practicing Rastas is viewed the same way Catholics view communion. To make the ritualistic use of ganja, the newest trend is disrespectful to the religion of a man we’re supposedly “appreciating” today. Of course, the flip side of the argument is that if Bob Marley’s family gave Snapchat permission, why does it matter what we think? We have no right to say what should and shouldn’t be if his blood says it’s okay.

It matters because Bob Marley was also an unofficial ambassador for Jamaica. What does it mean for the Jamaican brand? Do we identify with the hype of 4/20 blaze it or does it just further enforce the stereotype of Jamaica as a sunny island for stoners? A fairly liberal country, many of us have always laughed off questions like, “Do you smoke weed all day?” and no doubt, a percentage of country occasionally lights it up but let’s move past it. Just because we smoke doesn’t make us a nation of stoners. We work hard, we’re innovative and it’s time the world sees us as such.