Kathmandu, Nov 1 (IANS) Nepal’s Supreme Court on Sunday issued a mandamus order directing the government to establish a regulatory framework for the controlled cultivation and production of cannabis for medicinal, scientific, agricultural, horticultural and industrial purposes.
The court’s order could pave the way for the legal cultivation and production of cannabis nearly five decades after Nepal criminalised marijuana cultivation and consumption.
In 1976, the Narcotic Drugs (Control) Act criminalised the sale, cultivation and consumption of cannabis.
Cannabis cultivation currently carries a prison sentence and fines.
The Supreme Court has directed the Nepali government to formulate the necessary regulations, standards and procedures within three months to regulate cannabis cultivation and production.
Although the court judgment was delivered on May 18, 2025, its full text was made public only a few days ago because the document could not be located following a fire at the Supreme Court during the Gen Z protests on September 9 last year.
The court said that although the Narcotic Drugs (Control) Act, 1976, prohibits cannabis, it provides a legal basis for its controlled cultivation and production for medicinal, scientific and industrial purposes.
The court found that cannabis could not be cultivated and produced for these purposes because the government had failed to formulate the necessary regulations and procedures.
The court also ordered the establishment of a strict regulatory and monitoring mechanism for issuing licences or permits for the commercial cultivation, production, processing, storage, use, sale, distribution, export and import of cannabis for medicinal, scientific, agricultural, horticultural and industrial purposes.
The mechanism must also prohibit unlawful cultivation, production, manufacture, preparation, sale and distribution of cannabis, as well as other prohibited activities.
Since the law was introduced in the 1970s, people have been reluctant to cultivate and produce cannabis for fear of facing criminal penalties.
In recent years, however, discussions have gained momentum about allowing cannabis cultivation in Nepal for medicinal and scientific purposes.
In March 2020, Sher Bahadur Tamang, then a member of the House of Representatives, registered a Private member’s Bill seeking to legalise marijuana, primarily for medicinal use and export.
The Bill proposed allowing licensed farmers to cultivate and sell cannabis.
Under the proposed legislation, which was not passed by the House, farmers wishing to cultivate marijuana would have been able to obtain licences from local governments or the relevant district authorities.
Applicants would have been required to specify the cultivation area, identify the people involved in cultivation and provide assurances against unauthorised use.
On July 9 this year, Nepal’s Gandaki Province Assembly unanimously passed a Bill to license cannabis cultivation for medicinal and industrial purposes.
Historical records suggest that cannabis cultivation and sales remained legal in Nepal until the early 1970s.
However, when hippies from Western countries flocked to Nepal in the late 1960s and 1970s as part of the overland hippie trail, they brought with them a commercialised demand for the country’s marijuana and hashish.
The emerging market also attracted unwanted attention.
Domestic and international researchers have said that pressure from the United States, which was then pursuing its “War on Drugs”, prompted Nepal to criminalise cannabis cultivation, sales and consumption.
Now, several US states have legalised cannabis for medicinal use, while some also permit recreational use, and several other countries have legalised marijuana for medicinal and recreational consumption.
–IANS
scor/khz