The Guadalajara Reporter

Medical marijuana: is it already popular in Jalisco?

Members of Guadalajara’s Colectivo 4:20 are gearing up for the Global Marijuana March, which has been held worldwide on the first Saturday in May since 1999.

Colectivo 4:20 is hoping that Guadalajara will join other cities around the globe in calling attention to the many benefits of the famous weed.

According to biologist José Luis Ortiz, a spokesman for the group, marijuana helps stop metastasis in people who have cancer, “assuring that the sick cells die in the cleanest possible manner.” And Ortiz insists this has been proven by the celebrated Complutense University of Madrid, one of the oldest universities in the world.

Whenever the subject of marijuana for medical purposes comes up, my mind drifts back to the late 1960’s, when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica. While the idea of smoking “ganja,” as it’s called on the island, is universally associated with Rastafarians and Reggae, my long-distance hikes through remote Jamaican villages taught me the real reason why a little bit of cannabis grows in so many rural back yards.

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