When the Hippie Trail emerged in the mid-1960s, many Western hippies embarked on a journey to South Asia, passing through the Himalayan mountains in search of spiritual enlightenment. Along the way, they discovered some of the best high-altitude cannabis strains in the Himalaya region. It passed through countries once connected by the old Silk Road, including Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal, all of which held an ancient tradition of growing landrace cannabis, also referred to as indigenous cannabis. It became an important trading commodity in ancient times, with salt and opium being exchanged for products made from Indian cannabis like clothes, shoes, hats, medicine, and hashish.
The refined and ancient method of rubbing the flowers of the cannabis plant to produce charas is native to the Indian subcontinent and is associated with the spiritual and religious rituals of Indigenous Peoples. In those times, there was no differentiation within the plant and its subsequent uses for products or the consumption of the psychoactive substance THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). The plant was a holistic part of many indigenous cultures, not only in the Himalayas. Over time, it brought economic wealth and freedom to the remote regions of the Himalayan Mountains, and many respected businesses developed from the trading of hashish and charas.
In the late 1970s, geopolitical changes and conflicts in the region, declined the demand on cannabis. Then, on November 14, 1985, the Indian government, responding to international pressure, decided to prohibit cannabis. This decision destroyed the livelihoods of the communities by turning respected business people into criminals overnight. The high altitude and difficult living conditions did not allow for much else to be grown and traded in these remote regions of the Indian Himalayas, thus forcing communities into the illicit trade and the stigma that accompanied the plant.
In 2005, the World Resources Institute published a study uncovering that 80% of our planet’s biodiversity is situated on traditional indigenous territory, which comprises just 22% of the world’s land surface. This also applies to the survival of many of the world’s landrace or indigenous cannabis strains, which only survived the decades of prohibition due to the perseverance and resistance of our indigenous sisters and brothers, who continued planting and breeding the landraces. Most have lived under tremendous poverty and stigmatization as a result of dedicating their lives to the caretaking and survival of the plant.
In contrast, the development in the western world was very different, where seeds taken back home from the high-altitude landraces of cannabis were the start of lucrative breeding ventures of varieties that are still carrying the names of famous Himalayan mountain ranges, despite the genetics being adapted to the needs of a new cannabis culture of the global North.
Currently, the WHO is reassessing how these exchanges with indigenous knowledge holders can be better handled, as exploitation of traditional knowledge, patent infringements, and the lack of benefit-sharing are the issues arising from biopiracy of seeds and medicinal plants.
Solving biopiracy will not end the problems of prohibition and stigmatization of cannabis in affected regions like Samal Himachal Pradesh, where the plant holds a long tradition of historical, cultural, social, and economic ties. It will need visionaries like Haneesh Katnawer and Sonam Sodha from Himalayan Hemp, who are bringing back the livelihood, culture, and benefits of the cannabis plants to the ancestral population of the region. To create awareness for the plant without addressing its stigma as a drug, sanitary pads were created for women. This fully circular undertaking brought jobs and income back to the women, who are extracting the plant’s fiber and reconnecting to their ancient knowledge of making products from the cannabis plant. The fact it’s not called cannabis, but hemp, can be attributed to the worldwide status of prohibition. Nonetheless, the project has created a new legacy for the plant, allowing it to come back to address problems like income, education, and gender equality, all of which are pressing issues for the inhabitants of the remote Himalayan regions, to become more resilient towards climate change.
On a personal note:
More information on the outcome of the Diplomatic Conference on Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, in May 2024, at the United Nations in Geneva, can be found here: “WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, and Associated Traditional Knowledge”.
As a Climate Impact Storyteller, Maren Krings leverages her expertise in photography, filmmaking, content writing, and keynote speaking to highlight the potential of hemp for climate resilience and social justice. She holds a B.F.A. in Photography from the Savannah College of Art & Design, a degree in Climate Change Studies and Environmental Science from the University of Exeter, and multiple certifications in related fields.
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