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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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India: In Malana, they don't want to grow anything else
Sukhwant Basra Times of India
Tuesday 05 Oct 2004 MALANA: Tucked away in the Western spurs of the Shivaliks, a small village continues to do what it's micro-climate allows the best: produce the finest hashish in the world. 'Malana Cream' holds a hypnotic lure to the junky. Dope connoisseurs insist that it they have their Scotch, we have our Malana. Surprisingly prosperous-looking for a hamlet so remote, Malana produces enough maize by itself to feed a large part of Himachal Pradesh. Or that's just what the official Kanungo's records say. What really sprouts in Malana is a mammoth cannabis plant that yields a resinous drug prized the world over for its unique high. The place's emerged as the pivot of the whole hashish trade emanating from Kullu. The moment a tourist trods the demarcated pathway meandering through the village (wandering off leads to a fine of Rs 1000) he's latched onto by dealers. If your percept of a dealer sketches a seedy looking character peddling his deadly cargo in stealth, then Malana is sure to explode it. Every friendly looking youth and sweet child hawks the stuff. Dope is available in most higher regions of Himachal, but it is never hawked as blatantly. A bit of anti-narcotics history was created in 2003 when authorities raided and razed a reported 1100 bighas of cannabis crop. It was the first time ever. That's only made the canny Malanese hike the street prices. This time around precautions have been taken and the cultivation moved away to more obscure localities. "Outlying farmsteads in Magic,Wellbeing, Vaichon, Toshko and Bailing will yield the majority of this year's crop," reveals a local. "The police can try as they will but they can't shut us down," grins another. The case for growing cannabis is quite strong. Here the law's not just a day's hard trek away, effectively it doesn't exist. Then, cannabis is a weed, it needs no nurturing. And the Malanese does not even have to step out of his home to sell it. The risk factor stays minimal and the returns are extensive. The daily wage rate of Rs 700 during the harvest season is in itself the highest possible for an unskilled job in the region. The precise output of Malana has never been calculated. But it is enough to allow a majority of the populace to work during the harvest season from September to October alone and then ease out for the rest of the year. But the dope haven of Malana is not going to be safe for long. Not if progress and the Kullu police have their way.
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