Hurricane Melissa recently struck Jamaica with a fury the country hadn’t seen since the legendary Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. This Category 5 storm, with winds of nearly 185 mph and torrential rain, left 32 people dead, entire communities cut off, widespread structural damage across the island, and a humanitarian crisis in motion.
On top of the human toll, Jamaica now faces an unprecedented cultural and economic loss: the hurricane wiped out whole cannabis farms, a national symbol and a vital source of income for both legal and informal growers.
The scene is apocalyptic. In several parishes across western Jamaica, roofs were torn off, torrential floods submerged entire towns, and cannabis farms —along with other crops— were destroyed. For an island where cannabis is both cultivated and deeply intertwined with its national identity, Hurricane Melissa presents a double challenge: rebuilding infrastructure and facing an unexpected shortage.
Since the last major hurricane nearly forty years ago, only the oldest remember what a Category 5 event truly means. Younger generations had no memory of such a storm, nor clear response protocols. As a result, most people didn’t really know what to do before, during, or after the disaster.
A Hurricane that Left Jamaica Without Water, Food, or Crops
The government declared a state of “national disaster” while working to assess the damage. According to local and international reports, Melissa destroyed both legal and informal harvests and crippled much of the country’s agricultural base. Radio Sativa reported that, in addition to cannabis, essential crops like bananas, coffee, and sugarcane were severely damaged, threatening both the nation’s food supply and export commodities. Reasonably, fears of food insecurity are spreading fast.
“All cultivation facilities were devastated, whether from flooding or structural damage. Wire fences, roofs, greenhouses, even shipping containers went flying,” said Triston Thompson, founder of cannabis …
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Author: Camila Berriex / High Times
