Nepal ganja campaign seeks return of Himalayan high times
Nepal closed its marijuana dispensaries in 1973, but now lawmakers are seeking to lift a cultivation ban to create a new export revenue stream
France24 (France)
Friday, April 29, 2022
Friday, April 29, 2022
Nepal's marijuana ban could soon be up in smoke, as lawmakers mull a return to the liberal drug policies that once made the Himalayan republic a popular pit stop on the overland "hippie trail". Now, with Western countries easing their own prohibitions on marijuana, the government and legal reform campaigners say it is time to stop criminalising a potent cash crop with centuries-old ties to the country's culture and religious practices. "It is not justifiable that a poor country like ours has to treat cannabis as a drug," Nepal's Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada told AFP. "Our people are being punished... and our corruption increases because of smuggling as we follow decisions of developed countries that are now doing as they please."
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