Grandmas Growing Marijuana In Swaziland

Although this is a bit of an older story, published in the NYT two months ago, it just came to my attention and it's an interesting one, so I thought I'd talk about it here.

Swaziland is a tiny country within South Africa, one of only two monarchies left in Africa (the other is Morocco and at least Morocco feigns not being an absolute monarchy).

Swaziland has a horribly high HIV-positive rate (over 25%, the highest rate in the world) and is generally completely dependent on its neighbor, (or rather, surrounder) South Africa. So today's story is about a grandma whose three daughters all died (the article is ambiguous but suggests AIDS) and left her with 11 grandchildren to take care of. So what does she do? Grow marijuana!

The Grandma's Stock

Apparently there is a particularly well-known strain of marijuana called Swazi Gold, which is exported from Swaziland into South Africa, where the market for weed is relatively strong. Of course, these old grannies (it's not just one) are for the most part ripped off by the middlemen who buy their stock and resell it in South Africa, so they aren't really making nearly as much as they should be, but I guess that's what happens when you work in the black market.

Random Kate Thoughts: I've visited Swaziland and on the whole it tries pretty hard to fulfill a lot of "African" stereotypes--of drum circles and starving children, corrupt kings and flags with spears on them. This particular story is a fascinating one. If Swaziland or South Africa were like California, where medical marijuana is legal, these women would have a real livelihood in front of them, instead of living in constant fear of the police, being strong-armed by middlemen with a monopoly over their crop, and having hungry mouths waiting to be fed keeping them from any real bargaining power.