Even during the British colonial rule in India which lasted over 200 years, in 1894 an extensive study was conducted and a report was published by an Indo-British team known as Indian hemp drugs commission, which pinned down the Physical, psychological and socio-cultural effects of cannabis in India. The plant itself is virtually found in every direction you go to in India However North India is widely cited as the biggest charas producing region,featuring the notorious and the elusive highland Himalayan villages, spreading all the way from Kashmir to Himachal and down to the China border in Uttarakhand. Any kind of enquiry concerning cannabis in India is incomplete without understanding the role of north Indian cannabis regions, such as - Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Utter Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Rajasthan. Although it is to be noted that Punjab and Haryana being flat lands among the listed states doesn't have any rigorous cultivation or large feral fields of cannabis anymore just like the capital state New Delhi where an exponentially rising population has already taken a severe toll on the nature and some of the regional cultivars from these areas have either vanished or are on the verge of being lost forever.



GEOGRAPHY : Northern India is guarded by the great Himalayas on the north through Indian states - Jammu & Kashmir, Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Thar desert (Rajasthan) in the west and Gangatic plains towards south, from where begins the flat lands of Utter Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. The tropic of cancer slices the county in exact half and divides it between temperate climate for northern India and tropical for southern India. Northern India also features alpine and tundra climate as we move up north towards Jammu and Kashmir. The Himalayas in northern India not only acts as an effective barrier against the extreme temperature but also facilitates the monsoon season which plays a pivotal role in the october harvest of rice. The Gangatic plains make up for the most densely populated areas of India for being relatively easier landscapes to urbanize than Himalayan mountain or the desert in the west.

Thar Desert in the northwest india lies majorly in India (85% approx.) and a small portion in pakistan that borders with the Indian state rajasthan. On the north-east of the desert, Arravali ranges runs through rajasthan towards Gujrat which features mostly an arid and dry climate, with very little yearly rain.

All these geographical factors account for the flora and fauna found in northern India and especially for the cannabis landraces found in these parts of India. Although most of the north India primarily features short flowering/highland sativas there are some pure Indica landraces to be found up north in jammu and kashmir. To further understand these regions and the respective cultivars, we need to take a somewhat detailed look at all the regions individually.

JAMMU & KASHMIR