High in Aceh's hills: How marijuana survived the tsunami
High in Aceh's hills: How marijuana survived the tsunami
Sebastien Blanc, Agence France-Presse/Banda Aceh
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 (beef curry)," 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 (89,000 acres) 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,
or around US$5.50.
Young people asked in the street admit that they smoke it at
home, behind closed doors.
"It all comes from the mountains. I can get you some if you
want," says Abubakar, an elderly man working in one of the food
stalls in Banda Aceh, filled to bursting with plastic bags full
of gulai daging.
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, 65, 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, for one, says he 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."
seb/jah/nw
Asia-quake-Indonesia-drugs
AFP
GetAFP 2.10 -- FEB 28, 2005 09:48:23