Reggae artist Keznamdi advocates for marijuana legalisation

Reggae artist Keznamdi advocates for marijuana legalisation

The 22-year-old Rastafarian believes the world has been miseducated about the use and benefits of marijuana and, that with recent developments in marijuana legislation, globally, now is the time for Jamaica to amend its laws so the country can benefit from this multibillion-dollar industry.

"In California, where I'm based, marijuana is treated like gold. There is a booming medical-marijuana industry, involving health tourism, as people visit from all over the world, searching to find marijuana for various health conditions."

"There are marijuana farmers who earn millions by supplying this industry and if Jamaica can do something like this, believe me, we don't need no IMF money," said the artiste."

He also believes that, if legalised, the justice system would benefit tremendously.

"The prison dem overcrowded, a lot of youths in jail for a little spliff and, when you check it, these petty cases causing a major backlog in the court system. We need to decriminalise marijuana so that the courts can focus on more serious crimes that are destroying sweet sweet Jamaica."

Keznamdi recently released the music video for his Don Corleon-produced track, Grade, which is an ode to marijuana.

The video premiered on the artiste's YouTube page last week. It was shot in Kingston by director Ras Tingle. One of the main scenes from the video depicts how legalisation would aid the medical marijuana industry in Jamaica, showing a cancer patient getting medical marijuana delivered to her by a courier.

Keznamdi's introduction to the music industry came after the release of his 'Bridging the Gap' EP last April, which peaked at number four on the iTunes reggae charts and number 10 on the Billboard Reggae Album Charts.