Nepal, former hash paradise, could end ban after 50 years |

Home to the legendary Royal Nepali Temple hash balls and other exotic delights, Nepal may soon return to its former glory with new laws legalizing cannabis and new intentions. Nepal’s pool of cannabis advocates now includes people living with HIV and other diseases who not only want but need cannabis.

Nepal’s top officials signaled that legislation to lift Nepal’s cannabis ban was underway.

“There is no justification for a poor country like ours having to treat cannabis as a drug,” Nepal’s Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on April 29. “Our people are being punished… and our corruption is increasing smuggling as we follow decisions by developed countries who now do as they please.”

This is not the only reason for cannabis reform in Nepal. As in any other country, a growing number of advocates are turning to cannabis primarily for its healing properties.

“It’s a drug,” said cannabis activist Rajiv Kafle, who lives with HIV and uses cannabis for medicinal purposes. HIV can lead to wasting syndrome, i.e. loss of appetite. One of the most noticeable side effects of cannabis is cravings, which are a powerful appetite stimulant.

“So many patients are using it, but they’re being forced to do it illegally,” Kafle said. “They can be caught at any time.” The Associated Press reported on October 11, 2021 that activists introduced a bill in Parliament aimed at legalizing the cultivation, use and export of cannabis again, as more and more countries adopt its allow medical and recreational use.

Kafle was among the top advocates drumming up cannabis reform in Nepal. It’s a reminder of how HIV was a driving force behind the first nationwide medicinal cannabis laws in the US as well.

Hash port in Kathmandu

In the 1960’s and up to now, many reports detail how the most zealous hippies came to Kathmandu, Nepal to buy the strongest hash in the world. Hash could easily be found in state-licensed stores on Freak Street. Most people who have tried temple balls say they “never forgot” the experience. However, due to increasing pressure from the US and other countries, Nepal closed its hashish dealers in 1973.

Former High Times news editor Bill Weinberg reported extensively on the city, explaining that the hash trade continued to thrive for a time after the 1973 ban. In 2018, however, a crackdown on Nepalese temple hash put a damper on the hash trade.

According to local press, western backpackers still travel to Nepal to buy hash from backyards – while the country gets none of it in the form of taxes etc. To make matters worse, smuggling and corruption are reported to be a major problem in the area.

In December 2020, Nepal supported a successful campaign when the United Nations removed cannabis from its list of the world’s most harmful drugs.

Also, there is little in the region to separate cannabis from religion. Cannabis use in Hindu temples is commonplace. For example, Shiva, the destroyer of evil, is often depicted with a chillum for smoking. Because of this, you will see temples like the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu offering ceremonies with holy men and devotees filling their own chillums with Shiva’s ‘gift’.

But it’s the same temple complex that was ransacked in 2018, when 280 people were arrested and 115 criminally charged. There is a clear separation between religion and law.

Royal Nepalese Temple Hash Balls are said to have an indescribable flavor and potency unmatched by Westerners. Ed Rosenthal called it the Holy Grail of concentrates.

Thousands of pilgrims gather in Nepalese temples each year for the Hindu festival of Shivaratri, and cannabis is a sacred sacrament.

With the new law movement to end cannabis prohibition in Nepal, it is a unique place in the world where religion meets cannabis.