The remote Indian village that relies on stoners

Israeli tourist Amit, only one name given, seated left, smokes a joint after a hike with friends at Malana village. Photo / AP

In the sleepy mountainous states of North India, marijuana has grown indigenously for hundreds of years

For hundreds of years, the tiny village of Malana was just a speck lost amid the grandiose mountains of the Indian Himalayas.

Nestled at 2700 metres between the higher reaches of the lush Kullu Valley, Malana used to be a four-day hike from the nearest road. Its laws, tradition says, were laid down by the village god Jamlu. People elected their own parliament and disputes were settled in their own court. Villagers would run in terror if an outsider showed up.

Malana village stands in the higher reaches of the Indian Himalayas in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Photo / AP

But Malana is hidden no more. For centuries, the villagers have been growing the plant that has made Malana one of the world's top stoner destinations, and a battleground - at least symbolically - for India's haphazard fight against "charas," the black and sticky hashish that has made the village famous.

In 1985, the Indian government gave in to international pressure and banned the production and consumption of cannabis. Possession of a kilogram of charas - a THC-rich extract derived from rubbing out the resin from freshly cut marijuana buds - is punishable by a minimum 10 years' imprisonment.

A man prepares 'charas,' a black and sticky hashish, in Malana village. Photo / AP

In the sleepy mountainous states of North India, marijuana has grown indigenously for hundreds of years. Local lawmakers and officials say the plant is part of their tradition and empathise with people in steep, remote villages who consider cannabis the only cash crop they can grow in harsh weather and geographic conditions.

Maheshwar Singh, a local lawmaker and the descendent head of the royal family of Kullu, said a look at the old tax books shows that the plant was legally cultivated and sold for decades before India's drug law.

Maheshwar Singh, a local lawmaker and a descendent of the former royal family of Kullu. Photo / AP

"It was a multipurpose plant for these people," said the burly, cheerful 67-year-old, pointing out the local usage of hemp fibres in making ropes and traditional "pula" slippers that continue to be the only footwear allowed for pilgrimages.

The people of Malana have to haul rations and wood for kilometres to get it into the village. Though a shabby road has cut the arduous trek to only an hour and a ropeway is being used to transport heavy cargo, the villagers still spend half the year collecting essentials from nature. The other half is spent in hibernation as the bitter winter buries the village under snow.

Gori Massi sings and dances on the way to work in her cannabis field in Malana village. Photo / AP

Every morning, Gori Massi slowly starts the trek to her field, sometimes singing to herself as she walks up a rocky trail. Walking at a pace of a 20-year-old, the wrinkles on her face and hands are the only indication of her age; she is 80.

It will take her an hour to get to her plants that are hidden far away from the village near the forest line. She will sit there all day, curing high-potency marijuana buds and rubbing them between her palms to juice out the resin that smears her hands black.

A man displays a freshly prepared drop of 'charas,' a black and sticky hashish. Photo / AP

After collecting about 20 grams of gooey hashish that would fetch her anywhere between US$50 to US$150 ($70-$210), she decides to call it a day. And prays the police spare her fields this year.

"Wheat and other grains don't grow on this land," Massi said. "Nothing else grows here. We have to live like that, and whatever plants we do have are cut down by the police. What can we do?"

The aromatic "Malana Cream" - a variety of oily hash produced in the village from higher-potency plants with hybrid seeds - has earned legendary status among pot smokers around the world. Consumed mostly with tobacco, in a joint or a chillum, the pungent hash has found its way into coffee shops in Amsterdam and won the High Times Cannabis Cup at least twice.

French filmmaker Florent Dupont, 32, smokes a joint at a guesthouse in Malana village. Photo / AP

In India, this fame has meant an influx of foreign and local tourists into Parvati Valley, a group of mountains around the Parvati River near Malana, that has grown each year in the past decade.

"It's just become a destination for international cool people, stoners, hikers," said Florent Dupont, 32, as he sipped tea and rolled a joint in a guesthouse.

"People know they can get the freshest, nicest product," the filmmaker from France added.

The valley is teeming with young Israelis, many draped in colorful shawls and wearing their hair into ropey dreadlocks, who come for a therapeutic experience after years of military service.

Elderly villagers sunbathe at the village square in Malana. Photo / AP

Singh said it is this frenzied popularity of local hashish that has exploded the cultivation of cannabis in the valley. In 2016, the local government estimates 240 hectares of land in the region was used for cannabis cultivation, producing more than 12,000 kilograms of hashish.

The real numbers are much higher as plants are grown on steep edges of high mountains that are impossible for the police to reach.

A government forest worker destroys fully grown marijuana plants in Malana village. Photo / AP

While the rising demand and price of charas has benefited the villagers, it has also led to a slight increase in prosecutions and prompted the government to send machete-wielding police and forest personnel on long treks to destroy a small percentage of the marijuana fields.

Villagers claim they have an understanding with local officials, who tell them to push their fields away from the village and into forest land, where they cannot be prosecuted for a field that's not on their land. Police strategy has mainly focused on destroying cannabis fields on forest land. The few villagers who have been arrested and are serving time for trafficking have been picked up in cities like New Delhi, Chandigarh and Goa.

Local villagers prepare to take a statue of the village god Jamlu on a pilgrimage in Malana village. Photo / AP

But it is impossible to destroy mountains full of weed. Singh, who has visited Malana several times during election campaigns and is revered by inhabitants because of his royal lineage, said the government needs a different approach to tackle the problem.

Children play in front of a mountain home that stands alone at the upper-end of the Malana village. Photo / AP

"I feel they have a reason to stick to that plantation because that is the only way they can earn their living," Singh said. "The government of India had made a policy that they would be provided some alternative employment. But that we have not been able to do."

- AAP