Marijuana, the great survivor

2005-02-28 10:05

Banda Aceh, Indonesia - Of all the tales of miraculous survival in December's tsunami disaster, one in particular has the people of Indonesia's Aceh province reaching for their cooking pots.

Although vast swathes of land were destroyed in the devastation, one crop mostly survived, thanks to the fact that it was grown in the hills, high above the flat coastal areas.

And although marijuana is illegal in Indonesia, its use is widespread in Aceh where it is traditionally added to curry and even coffee, as well as being smoked.

In the region that bore the brunt of the human cost of the tsunami, with an estimated 237 000 Acehnese killed in the catastrophe, marijuana has provided an important link to traditional ways of life.

One doesn't need to look for long in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh to find a roadside stall selling gulai daging, a meat-based curry dish, simmering on a gas stove.

Asked whether there is any marijuana in the stew and most people hold out their wrists, as if handcuffed, and swear not. But many do add the special ingredient.

Anwar, 38, is a little less timid: "I put a little bit in the coffee and in the gulai daging," he explains. "It's not difficult to get hold of and prices have stayed pretty stable," he says.

He says his "ganja" comes from the mountains around the city where it can escape the gaze of local law enforcement officials and where it safely sat out the tsunami that washed away an estimated 36 000 hectares of farmland on the north of Sumatra.

Those found in possession, trafficking or using drugs can face severe penalties in Indonesia. Being caught with a kilo of marijuana can get you two and a half years in jail, Anwar warns.

He says he fries up a few cannabis seeds in his cooking but doesn't use the potent leaves. "They get sold to the big shots outside Aceh," he says.

"In Aceh, even for the poor, tradition states that we should eat gulai daging at least three times a year," explains a local journalist from the local Serambi newspaper.

"One or two days before ramadan, at the end of ramadan and before the celebrations for the Haj" annual pilgrimage, he says, adding that a kilo of cannabis can be bought for 50 000 rupiah (about R30. .

"It all comes from the mountains. I can get you some if you want," says Abubakar, a 65-year-old man working in one of the food stalls in Banda Aceh.

He says that the prices of some herbs and spices went up after the tsunami but that since the marijuana crop was mostly spared, the price has remained about the same.

Abubakar says local marijuana production has suffered more harm from the separatist conflict going on in the region for almost three decades than the tsunami.

Abubakar is unwilling to visit many of the areas where the marijuana is grown, as rebels from the Free Aceh Movement have occupied many parts.

"We're afraid to go there," he says. "They might accuse us of being spies."

- AFP