42
Letters
Is Cannabis cultivation legal in Nepal?
While I was in Hennef, Germany, attending the CannaBusiness
‘98 trade show, the issue was raised to me several times by a few different
people, that I was so lucky to be living in a country where it was still legal
to grow Cannabis, hemp and marijuana. This came as a surprise to me,
because even after living in Nepal for the past 17 years, I had never heard
this. During the past five years I have been discussing with the various
governments of Nepal the potential benefits for farmers and the country by
allowing the growing of industrial Cannabis.
I would like to state the facts about Nepal and the growing
of Cannabis as an industrial hemp fiber and/or seed crop or for hashish
production. As the Nepali law is written, (and translated to English) it clearly
states that all parts of the Cannabis plant are illegal and that the
handling or moving of any part of the plant is punishable by law. Indeed, people
are frequently arrested for dealing in hashish. The blanket wording of the Cannabis
law results from several causes.
In the Nepali language there is only one word for the Cannabis
plant, ganga.. In English, it is possible to use alternate words for Cannabis
such as ‘hemp’ and ‘marijuana’. These more specific terms establish a
clear difference in the use of the plant. However, in Nepali you use the word ganga
no matter what the plant is used for. Also, the law was put into place in the
early 1970s, after some heavy pressure was applied on the Nepali government by
Western nations and it resembles the wording of North American and European Cannabis
laws. Even now the law is kept in place due to pressure from the same foreign
governments, who do not want Nepal or any country to allow this very useful and
profitable plant to be grown.
The law is somewhat relaxed, however, and Nepali hemp
material is available from almost all hill regions of the country. It differs
from the material that is available from other countries, as it is grown from
high-THC plants. Plants are not grown for the fiber, but for the illegal parts
of the plant, the leaves and the flowers and of course, what made Nepal famous
so many years ago, the resin, which is used to make hashish. After the resin is
collected the bark is stripped from the stalks and used for making hemp cloth
and other craft items.
There is also one very important exception to the Cannabis
law that is used by a lot of rural people in Nepal. For the farmers of Nepal it
is "legal" to grow up to two plants on their property for medicinal
use. It is an unwritten law, but no police would bother a farmer who had two
plants, no matter what size, growing in their garden, as long as the same farmer
had animals. It is understood that the animals may need the medicine if they get
upset stomachs. Also some locals use the seed from their "legal"
plants to make a potato pickle dish, without fully understanding the reason they
eat it, as a necessary high protein addition to their protein poor diets.
I would like to add that even with the laws as they are, in
certain areas of Nepal you will find entire valleys growing Cannabis, ganga,
or marijuana, you may call it what you like, but the farmers who harvest this
crop, are as concerned with how it grows as any grower in the west. They are
after the leaves, flowers and resin for marketable drug products, and the fiber
for their traditional dress, which the family members will process in a very
labor intensive process. Now, with the interest in material made from Cannabis
hemp, the traditional family process is now yielding the family an extra income
that was not possible before.
Even in the capital city, Kathmandu, you will find in the
right season wild plants growing almost everywhere, along the sides of the
roads, in the compounds of older established buildings, including Government
buildings. After all, we must remember that Cannabis is a weed. In almost
every field that has not been plowed, you will find the weed growing up to the
time the farmer plows it under to add natural fertilizer to the soil. It is
still illegal to grow, but it grows freely and nothing will ever stop it.
In conclusion, you must say that it is still very much
illegal to grow Cannabis, (hemp or marijuana) in Nepal, and that every
part of the plant is included in this law. However, we can import the hemp
sliver, yarn and material from China with no problem. We can also export the
same, as well as Nepali-made material from the villages. However, we cannot
legally grow it, harvest it, handle it and transport it. So, like many laws
dealing with this plant it is completely illogical.
E-mail: darcy@mos.com.np