Jamaica hit by ‘weed’ shortage

Shiva takes a puff of a cannabis cigarette at the Women & Weed industry event in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

Heavy rains followed by an extended drought, an increase in local consumption and a drop in the number of marijuana farmers have caused a shortage in the island’s famed but largely illegal market that experts say is the worst they’ve seen.

“It’s a cultural embarrassment,” said Triston Thompson, chief opportunity explorer for Tacaya, a consulting and brokerage firm for the country’s nascent legal cannabis industry.