Discover the Himalayan villages where cannabis is grown
This type of plant is illegal in India, although it is native and many mountain farmers depend on its cultivation. There are some small villages that thrive on cannabis cultivation in the Indian Himalayas.
One of them is nestled in a mountain at 2,700 meters above sea level, and the village is only accessible on foot after a three-hour hike. Residents say the season has been good and profitable so far, as the police only showed up a couple of times to completely cut down their plants. Despite this, these plants are just a drop in the bucket, as this type of plant grows wild in the Indian Himalayas, and it is nearly impossible to stop illegal cultivation.
After harvesting cannabis indicaFarmers spend hours slowly rubbing the resin from the leaves to obtain a type of hashish called charas, considered the best in the world. A gram of charas can cost up to $20 in the West. Although cannabis is illegal in India, economic necessity has forced many villagers to produce it.
The value of charas grows year after year, although farmers' livelihoods remain very humble. Most fields are small, and 50 ganja buds produce barely 10 grams of charas.
The first to produce charas were sadhus, holy men who retreated to the Himalayas to meditate. But in the 1970s, when hippies began following the sadhus into the mountains, locals learned to prepare charas. Today, they use the same technique to produce tons of charas each year. This is, according to some estimates, because India has no official figures on charas production or cannabis cultivation. Because it is illegal, the Indian government has never undertaken a large-scale study to determine cannabis production in its territory.
Since cannabis is a native plant, it's difficult for police to track producers, who constantly move their crops to higher and higher ground to avoid possible raids. Thousands of families in the region survive by producing charas. The farmers sell the resin to foreigners, but also to Indians in the big cities. And demand is growing. New guesthouses and places where charas can be smoked pop up every season.
Despite the complex and advanced drug trade, time seems to have stopped in this mountainous region, where life follows the rhythms of nature. The villages scattered on the slopes of the Himalayas are made up of colorful houses with dark roofs made of thin stone slabs. These villages have a central water tap, an ancient temple, and a few shops selling soap, cigarettes, legumes, rice, and flour.
The history of cannabis in India dates back thousands of years. You can find mentions of this plant in the sacred texts called the Vedas; it is said that the god Shiva meditated on the snowy peaks of the Himalayas, eating cannabis flowers. However, today, it's all about business, and villagers sell charas to survive.
Himalayan communities are proud and very secretive. Hard workers, they live in extreme conditions and often have no other employment options. Many farmers have never grown a legal crop. Sowing, production, use, context: everything is imbued with spirituality and religion.
Like many other countries, India joined the global fight against drugs in 1961, when it signed the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. But not everyone was willing to abandon cannabis, which has long been part of religious rituals and festivals. Even so, India outlawed cannabis in 1985.
Interesting facts
Nearly 400 of India's 640 districts cultivate cannabis, says Romesh Bhattacharji, former Narcotics Commissioner of India. It's time for the government to stop being a slave to UN policies. Cannabis use and cultivation have proliferated since 1985. Prohibition failed.
The obligation to eliminate cannabis in countries where its traditional use is widespread is a clear example of the [UN] Convention's colonialism, adds Tom Blickman of the Dutch think tank Transnational Institute. It would never be approved today.
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