Illegal cannabis and opium cultivation ride high in Parvati Valley in HP
For the risks people in Himachal Pradesh take in cultivating quality hash, they reap astonishingly high monetary rewards
Friday, March 29, 2013
"You want to buy charas? Hashish? Top quality," are invariably the first words you will hear in Malana. Tucked safely away on the highest mountains fringing Kullu Valley and an hour-and-a-half's walk from the closest road, the remote Himalayan hamlet lends its name to Malana Cream, acknowledged the world over as the 'champagne of hashish', an intoxicating dark brown resin rubbed off the leaves and seeds of the locally profuse variety of cannabis sativa-bhang. Residents in nearly 2,500 villages in Himachal Pradesh falling within more than 592 panchayats (each hill panchayat could have up to 12 villages) across Kullu, Mandi, Chamba, Kangra, Shimla and Sirmour rely on drug money for their livelihoods. (See also: Fear and loathing in the magic valley of Malana, India’s cannabis country)