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Monday, December 2, 2019

The ‘Ganja’ – Cannabis -saga.


Ganja has been cultivated in the dry zone of Sri Lanka for ages. The colonial invaders for some peculiar reason encouraged alcoholic liquors and legitimized them, while cultivation and use of Ganja was made illegal.
The police in the 1950s while conducting a raid into a Ganja plantation in the deep jungles carried guns and had to walk through jungle trails. These jungle trails on the approaches to the Cannabis field, had trip wires tied to the trigger of a home-made shot-gun -called ‘galkattas’ -  aimed low at the feet of intruders and tied in place. Any stranger walking the path would get his legs shattered. The Police party when doing a raid into the illegal plantation would be led by a man carrying a long bamboo stick, beating the path ahead. This act would trigger the gun harmlessly, well ahead of the search party, but would also warn the illegal cultivators who on hearing the shot, would vanish without a trace., when the Police party arrived at the scene. The Police raiders would then seize some ganja plants as evidence, to be produced in courts. They would proceed to destroy the ganja plants, set fire to the field and would get back to base. The seized ganja plants would be produced in the courts before a magistrate, who would order them to be burnt in the court premises. When the Ganja plants were burnt, there would be a circle of ‘onlookers’ round the fire, taking deep breaths. These would be the regular smokers of burnt ganga leaves, who were getting a free treat.
In the 1950s the Ceylon Army did a big raid termed ‘Operation Ganja’ in the Wellawaya – Hambegamuwa area, to rid this  menace, but the cultivators always returned to cultivate their plants.
On the long trunk routes, where lorries transporting goods would drive at night, there were coffee boutiques, where ganja laced coffee was sold. This coffee was termed ‘Gun Coffee’.
Ganja leaves were sprinkled on meat curries to tenderize the meat. It was sprinkled on omelets. It was used in the preparation of a drink called ‘Sabji’, to be given to a newly married Muslim couple, on their wedding night.
These are some of the tales I collected in my wanderings in our bountiful Island.



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