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Public record: Max Romeo's 1969 single 'Wet Dream', an early example of reggae 'slackness', was refused airplay by the BBC in the United Kingdom over its sexually suggestive lyrics, yet the record still reached the UK singles Top 10 (Wikipedia; NationalWorld obituary coverage).

Directive issued by Jamaica's Broadcasting Commission in February 2009, following controversy over Vybz Kartel and Spice's 'Rampin Shop', barring from radio and television any music or video depicting 'daggering' or sexually explicit acts, or glorifying the gun, murder, rape or arson (including 'bleeped' edits of explicit tracks); a landmark and much-debated attempt to regulate dancehall content on the airwaves.

Jamaican law effective 15 April 2015 that decriminalised possession of two ounces or less of ganja (a ticketable, non-criminal offence), permitted limited home cultivation, created a Cannabis Licensing Authority for a regulated medical industry, and allowed adult Rastafari and Rastafari organisations to cultivate and use ganja as a sacrament at registered places of worship; the outcome of decades of reform advocacy tied to Rastafari and reggae culture.

Public record: effective 6 February 2009 the Jamaica Broadcasting Commission directed that radio and television cable services not transmit recordings, live songs or music videos promoting or referencing 'daggering' or other explicitly sexual content, including edited versions of such songs, amid public discussion of the Vybz Kartel and Spice track 'Rampin' Shop' (Jamaica Information Service; Jamaica Gleaner).

Public record: in October 2022 the Jamaica Broadcasting Commission issued a directive barring the broadcast of music and other content deemed to promote or glorify illegal activity such as lottery scamming, illegal firearms, and the drug 'Molly' (Jamaica Gleaner; NBC News; Euronews).

Public record: the Noise Abatement Act, in force from 1997, empowers police to curtail amplified sound events in response to complaints and sets cut-off times for entertainment sessions, and its enforcement has been widely documented as affecting street dances and dancehall events (Laws of Jamaica; Jamaica Gleaner; Jamaica Observer).

Jamaican colonial statute of 1898 criminalising the practice of and consultation with 'persons practising Obeah', framed around fraud, occult means and pretended supernatural power; historians describe it as a tool used to suppress Afro-Jamaican religion and harass the poor. With minor amendments the Act remains on the books (though largely unenforced), and its repeal has been publicly debated.

Public record: documented histories record that Jamaican authorities and political parties kept a number of popular songs off the radio for political content, including the 1964 ska record 'Carry Go Bring Come' and, around the 1972 general election, reggae songs such as The Wailers' 'Small Axe' (academic and press accounts, incl. 'Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control').