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Key Takeaways
- Gandaki Province has authorized cannabis cultivation and use for medical purposes, becoming the first province in Nepal to do so.
- The new law requires farmers to obtain provincial permission and operate under government oversight, creating a regulated framework.
- Despite this provincial law, Nepal’s national prohibition on cannabis remains in effect, raising legal questions.
- Gandaki’s move challenges decades of national cannabis prohibition, which followed international pressure that ended the country’s legal cannabis era in 1976.
- The success of Nepal medical cannabis in Gandaki depends on effective implementation and whether it benefits local farmers or consolidates control.
Nepal has spent decades enforcing a national cannabis prohibition against a plant that grows naturally across its hillsides, carries deep roots in Hindu religious tradition, and once supported a real agricultural and tourism economy. One provincial government has now decided it is done waiting for Kathmandu to act.
Gandaki Province has become the first of Nepal’s seven provinces to authorize cannabis cultivation and use for medical purposes. The law creates a regulated framework requiring farmers to obtain provincial permission and operate under government monitoring. It took effect Monday after Province Chief Dilli Raj Bhatta authenticated the Bill to Regulate and Utilise Marijuana Cultivation for Medicinal and Industrial Purposes under Article 201(4) of Nepal’s Constitution, as first reported by the The Kathmandu Post.
This is a real legislative move. It is also a direct challenge to Nepal’s national prohibition. And it raises questions that neither Gandaki nor the national government has fully answered yet.
What the Gandaki Cannabis Law Actually Does
The Gandaki Provincial Assembly passed the bill on July 9th, following clause-by-clause deliberations and a review by the Assembly’s Finance and Development Committee. Both the ruling coalition and opposition parties passed it unanimously.
Province Chief Bhatta initially returned the bill on July 24 with a three-point message, arguing certain provisions conflicted with the national Narcotic Drugs Control Act of 1976 and raised concerns over provincial jurisdiction. The assembly rejected those concerns and passed the bill again in its original form. Bhatta authenticated it on August 4, well within the 15-day constitutional deadline.
The law permits cannabis cultivation and use for medical and industrial purposes within Gandaki. Farmers must secure official permission from provincial authorities and submit to regulatory monitoring. Provincial officials have discussed licensing, processing, testing, age restrictions, and requirements for Nepali participation in cannabis businesses.
The framework is real. Whether it functions as intended depends entirely on implementation.
Nepal’s National Cannabis Prohibition Still Stands
Here is where things get complicated.
Gandaki’s law does not repeal Nepal’s Narcotic Drugs Control Act. National law still prohibits cannabis cultivation, production, purchase, sale, distribution, importation, exportation, transportation, storage, possession, and consumption. The penalties are not symbolic.
Possessing cannabis for personal use can result in up to one month in prison. Cultivating up to 25 plants carries a sentence of up to three months. Cultivating more than 25 plants can mean up to three years behind bars. Penalties for production, sales, distribution, and transportation increase with the amount involved and can stretch into years.
Assembly members in Gandaki have argued that Article 304(1) of Nepal’s Constitution allows provincial laws passed under a province’s exclusive powers to prevail over conflicting federal legislation after the constitutionally specified transition period. That argument is untested in practice.
A farmer operating under Gandaki’s provincial license has no guarantee of protection from national law enforcement. That is not a hypothetical problem. It is the central unresolved issue hanging over this entire situation.
Gandaki has opened a door. Nepal’s national prohibition is still standing in the doorway.
Why This Tension Has Been Building for Decades
This conflict did not appear out of nowhere.
Cannabis grows naturally throughout Nepal and has been woven into Nepalese agriculture, religious observance, and local commerce for generations. The plant is particularly visible during Maha Shivaratri, the annual Hindu festival honoring Lord Shiva. At Kathmandu’s Pashupatinath Temple, sadhus and devotees have openly consumed cannabis for centuries as part of ascetic traditions tied to Shiva himself. Authorities have historically allowed this practice during the festival even while national law prohibits possession the rest of the year.
Maha Shivaratri is a celebration, where faith, history, and cannabis culture continue to coexist in ways that decades of prohibition have never fully erased.
How International Pressure Ended Nepal’s Legal Cannabis Era
During the 1960s and early 1970s, Kathmandu was a major stop on the so-called hippie trail. Government-licensed hashish shops operated openly. Cannabis cafés and bazaars attracted travelers from across the world. The industry created income for farmers, shopkeepers, guides, and local communities throughout the region.
That era ended when Nepal criminalized cannabis nationally in 1976 under the Narcotic Drugs Control Act. Like many countries during that period, Nepal changed its cannabis policies under intense international pressure to align with a global drug-control framework driven heavily by Western governments. Local traditions, agricultural realities, and the cultural relationship Nepalese people had long maintained with the plant were set aside.
Nearly half a century later, Gandaki is the first provincial government to formally push back.
What Nepal Stands to Gain with Medical Marijuana in Gandaki
Gandaki is home to Pokhara, one of Nepal’s most prominent tourism destinations, along with major mountain regions, trekking routes, and agricultural communities. A working medical cannabis program could eventually create real opportunities in cultivation, processing, testing, research, and regulated tourism.
Cannabis also offers farmers a potential high-value crop, particularly if the province builds programs accessible to small producers rather than systems that funnel control to well-capitalized domestic or foreign investors.
That is a meaningful distinction. Licensing fees, capital requirements, processing rules, and exclusive sales channels can quickly exclude the very farmers this law is supposed to help. The details of implementation will determine whether Gandaki’s cannabis program benefits local communities or replicates patterns seen elsewhere where legalization produced consolidation rather than equity.
The headline is significant. But implementation will decide whether this becomes a functioning medical cannabis program or a legal framework caught between two competing layers of government.
Frequently Asked Questions
Gandaki Province passed the Bill to Regulate and Utilise Marijuana Cultivation for Medicinal and Industrial Purposes in 2026, making it the first of Nepal’s seven provinces to authorize medical cannabis farming and use. Farmers must obtain official permission from provincial authorities and operate under regulatory monitoring. The law does not permit unregulated cultivation or recreational use.
No. Nepal’s national Narcotic Drugs Control Act of 1976 remains in force. Cannabis possession, cultivation, sale, and distribution are still prohibited under national law. Gandaki’s provincial law creates a regulated medical cannabis framework at the provincial level, but it does not override federal criminal law. The legal tension between the two has not been resolved.
Nepal criminalized cannabis nationally in 1976, largely due to international pressure during a period when Western-led drug-control policies were being pushed globally. Prior to that, Nepal had a legal cannabis trade, government-licensed hashish shops in Kathmandu, and a well-established agricultural and tourism economy connected to the plant.
Gandaki assembly members have argued that Article 304(1) of Nepal’s Constitution allows provincial laws passed under a province’s exclusive powers to prevail over older conflicting federal legislation. However, this argument has not been tested in court. Farmers operating under Gandaki’s provincial license do not have guaranteed protection from national law enforcement, and the jurisdictional question remains open.
