A provincial government in Nepal has legalized the use and growing of marijuana for medical purposes despite a national ban.
Cannabis is native to Nepal and is widely used during festivalsImage: Katerina Solovyeva/Zoonar/picture alliance
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A controversial bill allowing the cultivation and medical use of cannabis, which was endorsed by the chief of Nepal's Gandaki province, took effect on Monday.
However, farmers will be required to obtain official permission from provincial authorities and will be subject to close monitoring.
According to Kathmandu Post, province assembly members from the ruling coalition and opposition parties unanimously passed the legislation.
Gandaki is one of Nepal's seven provinces. The province is home to some of the country's most popular mountains and hiking trails, as well as the resort city of Pokhara.
Nepalese farmers celebrate the arrival of the monsoon with Asar Pandra, the festival of rice sowing. But this season, below-average rains are expected, and crops may be in danger.
The rice-sowing festival Asar Pandra is celebrated throughout Nepal, with the start of the monsoon rains marking the beginning of the rice season. Farmers and their families gather to plant rice seedlings together — and to splash around in the mud. The festival is a national holiday, though this year the rains arrived later than usual.
This woman is planting rice in the flooded fields near Kathmandu, Nepal's capital. Once the seedlings are in the ground, the villagers splash around in the muddy fields, followed by a feast. The celebration takes place every year on the 15th day of the Nepalese month of Asar. In the Gregorian calendar, this day usually falls on June 29.
But most rice fields had to be artificially irrigated for sowing this year. The weather phenomenon El Nino, which occurs when ocean temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean rise above normal and bring hot, dry weather to the region, is possibly to blame. El Nino changes precipitation patterns in large parts of the world, including Nepal.
Image: Navesh Chitrakar/REUTERS
Flooded fields
Nepal experiences a paradoxical mix of acute flood risk and fear of drought. The weather patterns triggered by El Nino can vary greatly from region to region: some places may experience droughts, while others may be affected by floods.
Image: Ambir Tolang/NurPhoto/picture alliance
Disaster warnings
The effects of El Nino are already being felt. Although the monsoon season started late and international climate research institutes are forecasting below-average total precipitation, the Nepalese weather service is reporting heavy rainfall in some areas. Disaster warnings are in effect in several parts of the country.
Rice is a staple food for millions of Nepalis. The crop is typically planted once a year in early summer, and harvested about four months later. There is a fixed gender-based division of labor: while the men plow the fields, rice cultivation itself is in the hands of women.
Image: Navesh Chitrakar/REUTERS
Backbreaking work
Farmers transplant the rice seedlings into the muddy soil through painstaking manual labor. In Nepal, women are also traditionally responsible for the harvest. This year, massive harvest losses are expected in large parts of Asia due to El Nino, including in Nepal. Meteorologists warn that this could be the strongest El Nino ever recorded.
Gandaki's provincial law sets a precedent in Nepal because it was passed despite a national ban on the cultivation, possession, and use of marijuana.
Possession of marijuana for personal use can result in a one-month jail sentence, while its distribution and sale are punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment, depending on the amount involved.
However, cannabis is native to Nepal, where it is widely used during festivals. Activists have long been campaigning for the government to change the law to permit its cultivation and use.
Marijuana was once deeply embedded in the country's culture and religious traditions. However, in the late 1970s, Nepal joined other nations in outlawing marijuana and expelling the hippies who had flocked there.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
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