How good is Taliban weed?

The new Afghan Taliban government, desperate for cash and an export deal on par with what the country needs to import from other countries, may have signed a cannabis trade agreement with Cpharm, an Australia-based pharmaceutical company. This will give Cpharm access to rare landrace marijuana strains that grow in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries.

At least that was the original story reported by the Times in London, now many are skeptical that the deal is true. The only Cpharm in Australia denies any involvement in such an announcement, but said there might very well be a cannabis deal, but not with their company. Is the story too good to be true and a masterful Taliban troll job? Is there a movement, backed by China or Russia, that is helping the Afghan government build a hashish processing plant worth $ 450 million? Time will tell if this was all a Thanksgiving riot or if the Taliban are planning to export cannabis.

While the Taliban are viewed as a terrorist group by many United Nations countries, their recent takeover of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US troops has opened an important window of opportunity with the Western world for a more democratic government and modern trade deals to be established.

While grass made headlines on this case, the physical country Afghanistan could have plenty or important exports if trade deals can be struck. According to the US sun:

Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium, a major producer of cannabis and, increasingly, methamphetamine production.

The provinces of Afghanistan are riddled with iron, copper, gold, coal and other deposits that, according to the country’s ministry of mines, will once be worth around £ 2 trillion. And in 2010, an oil field estimated at 1.8 billion barrels was discovered, valued at around 100 billion pounds.

The war-torn country is also said to have one of the world’s largest lithium deposits – an indispensable but scarce component that is required for batteries in the global boom in electric cars.

While unwilling to support a brutal regime like the Taliban, the thought that very rare landrace strains are becoming available and deliverable in countries like Canada and the United States has some in the cannabis industry raving about it. With cannabis genetics and hybrids finally getting full scientific backing from bodies like the DEA and FDA, new genetic strains of rare landrace strains could produce some exciting new products that could treat a whole range of ailments.

Another problem facing the new Afghan government is that drugs and drug production are officially illegal under the ultra-conservative Taliban regime, but Afghanistan is one of the world’s leading suppliers of opium and, more recently, methamphetamines. Afghanistan’s previous governments looked the other way when the money poured into the country, but legal trade deals could force the Taliban to recognize cannabis production and export as an official business and product of Afghanistan. It will be a difficult tightrope walk based on their ultra-conservative religion, but as always, when enough money is at stake, governments will find a way to get it to work legally while religiously saving face.

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