Kazakhstan wants to attract Big Pharma to its ‘Cannabis Klondike’
After aggressive Soviet efforts to eradicate the high-THC cannabis, the plants have only come back stronger and remain the target of campaigns by the authorities
Foreign Policy (US)
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Despite a heavy-handed campaign against drug trafficking and related crime in the country, one Kazakh lawmaker thinks it’s time to cash in on some 140,000 stubborn hectares of wild cannabis that can be found around Kazakhstan. Darigha Nazarbaeva, the eldest daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, proposed that the country lease some of its treasured cannabis fields to international pharmaceutical companies. "I suggest we review our attitude to cannabis," Dariga Nazarbayeva reportedly told the Kazakh parliament. The Chu valley, which is shared between southern Kazakhstan and northern Kyrgyzstan, is home to some of the most infamous — and potent — pot in the world.
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