Mosiyah Tafari banged on drums and chanted psalms with other Rastafari in a ballroom where the smoke of frankincense mixed with the fragrant smell of marijuana — the drug that in his faith is deemed sacred.
“When we look at Exodus chapter thirty and you read about the holy anointing oil that was used by Moses—Kaneh Bosm, which is an early version of the word cannabis—was a key ingredient in that oil,” Tafari explained.
“Revelation says, ‘The leaves of the trees shall be for the healing of the nations.’ We as Rastafarians know that to be the herb.”
Tafari helped organize, lead the spiritual service and played traditional Nyabinghi music at a ceremony in Columbus, Ohio marking the 91st anniversary of the coronation of the late Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, whom Rastafari worship as their savior.
For the Rastafari, the ritualistic smoking of marijuana brings them closer to the divine. But for decades, many have been incarcerated because of their use of cannabis.
As public opinion and policy continues to shift in the U.S. and across the world towards the recreational and medical use of cannabis, some Rastafari are clamoring for more legalization of the drug for the purposes of freedom of worship and ending persecution.
The Rastafari faith is rooted in Jamaica of the 1930s, where it grew as a response by Black people to white colonial oppression by melding Old Testament teaching with a desire to return to Africa.
Marijuana arrived to the island through indentured servants from India in the 19th century and spread through Rastafari and reggae culture in the 1970s.
“Decriminalization of Ganga is one of the steps that Rastafari as a community has been advocating for globally,” said Professor Jahlani Niah, director of Rastafari Studies Center at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica.
“Decriminalization is not legalization, which is the ultimate conversation that we would want to hold.”
A shift in public opinion and policy, especially on cannabis, has led countries, including Canada, Malawi and South Africa to ease laws in recent years.
While still federally illegal, lawmakers in states from Oregon to New York, have passed a raft of legislation legalizing cannabis in a third of the U.S.
Reggae artist Milton Blakes, who performed at the coronation event, questions what’s being doing about those who have served time for selling or possessing marijuana.
“What about those people who’ve been incarcerated, who’ve been locked up for this over the years, for doing so many years for selling this herb?”
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