and Social Change in the Indian Author(s): Prasenjeet Tribhuvan Source: Journal of Ethnobiology, 38(4):504-516. Published By: Society of Ethnobiology https://doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-38.4.504 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.2993/0278-0771-38.4.504

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BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. Journal of Ethnobiology 2018 38(4): 504–516

Cannabis and Social Change in the Indian Himalayas

Prasenjeet Tribhuvan1

Abstract. An indigenous crop, cannabis and its parts have traditionally been used in some regions of the Indian Himalayas for food, clothing, and enjoyment in the form of a socially consumed intoxicant. Cannabis has become engendered in social transformations and has been historically subsumed within the socio-cultural life of the region, where it has been a “humble” object (Miller 2009) of great utility, but hardly influential. However, in the last couple of decades, cannabis has been important in transforming the local economy, challenging the socio-cultural order, and influencing individual life trajectories in parts of the Indian Himalayas. This paper illustrates how cannabis becomes a “transgressive” object, one that is possessed of a force that shapes human life (for better and worse), and challenges and transforms social institutions and practices in the region. The socio- cultural, historical, and material aspects of cannabis play significant roles in such a transformation. While illustrating how the history of colonization and global circulation of cannabis is inscribed with contradictory meanings, the paper suggests that much (although not all) of cannabis’s present power in the Indian Himalayas can be attributed to historical and present interpretations in the global West. The paper examines the engagement between local community and cannabis, and explores how this engagement ushers in social change in the Indian Himalayas. Keywords: cannabis, Himalayas, globalization, , change

Introduction re-organization of social life and individual Cannabis () engenders biographies? social transformation in some regions of Social change can be perceived through the Indian Himalayas. An indigenous crop, sustained, noticeable transformations in a cannabis and its parts have been tradition- society’s value systems, organization, and ally used for food, clothing, and enjoyment structures, reflected in its evolving system of in the form of a socially consumed intox- social relations (Berger 1971). Such change icant. Cannabis has been historically is engendered by a combination of natu- subsumed within the socio-cultural life of ral, political, economic, and socio-cultural the region where it has been a “humble” phenomena working in tandem. Gener- object (Miller 2009:18) of great utility, but ally an organic and gradual process, some hardly influential. However, in the last factors can significantly expedite social couple of decades, cannabis has been change and introduce abrupt discontinu- responsible for transforming the local econ- ities and exceptions in human life. Society omy, challenging the socio-cultural order, in many parts of the Indian Himalayas and influencing individual life trajectories has experienced gradual transformations in parts of the Indian Himalayas. Why and in the past five decades owing to larger how has cannabis been primarily respon- socio-political processes working in tandem sible for rapid social change in the Indian with the domestic environment and local Himalayas in recent years? How did this aspirations of inhabitants. During this time, otherwise humble object, indigenous to cannabis has largely influenced the nature, the region and traditionally used for food, extent, and momentum of social transfor- clothing, and pleasure, become trans- mation in parts of the Indian Himalayas, as gressive for the local society leading to local society negotiates with new opportu-

1Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University. ([email protected]) Cannabis and Social Change in the Indian Himalayas 505 nities and threats that this familiar plant has and ubiquity. In the last couple of decades, ushered into the region. especially after the mid-nineties, cannabis Cannabis is indigenous to exten- has lost its humility in most parts of the sive parts of lower- to mid-altitude (up to Himalayas. While its utility has increased 3000 m) areas of the Indian Himalayas manifold for individuals and families, so and has been historically cultivated for has its ability to cause distress to individuals various purposes. In , and produce agitation in society. Cannabis cannabis and its products have been used is no longer strictly subsumed within local for food, clothing, medicines, and recre- social structures and relationships, and it ation. Branches of the plant have been used has radically reconfigured these through to produce fabric for coats to keep domestic ties and global exposure. It is an warm during harsh winters. Hemp is also influential social “actant” (Latour 2005:21), used to make footwear, owing to its dura- possessed of an almost human-like ability bility and ability to weather harsh physical to affect the society. In doing so, canna- and climatic conditions. Parts of the plant bis has become a “transgressive” (Taussig are regularly used in local food preparations 1999:20) substance within regions of the and cannabis seeds are used to prepare Indian Himalayas, with a great ability to spicy chutney to be had with local bread transform and unsettle local society. made of fermented rice called sidhu, espe- cially for warmth in winters. Sharma (1977) Method has documented several medicinal uses of This article is based on ethnographic the plant in villages of Himachal Pradesh. fieldwork conducted in the Oil from cannabis flowers has been used to of the district, in the Himalayan ease muscle pain, especially for menstrual state of Himachal Pradesh, for a period of cramps in women. Buds from the plant about fourteen months as a part of doctoral are boiled in milk and used as a cure for research in sociology. My field site was impotency. Cannabis leaves are used as constituted by areas of material engagement a de-wormer and diuretic to cure upset with cannabis among the communities in stomach and diarrhea. Cannabis has been the Parvati valley and regions surrounding used to wean people away from alcohol, the valley. These sites consisted of multiple which is considered to be the more harm- locations, including villages, market areas ful of the two. In addition to this, or towns, and cannabis plantations, mostly (locally known as ), produced from within the . Multiple sites of buds of the cannabis plant, has always been fieldwork usually share a relationship with used for its psychotropic properties. It has each other that bind them together to form traditionally been consumed in social gath- a coherent whole, which collectively forms erings, smoked in hookahs or chillums (local a source for ethnographic data (Hannerz smoking pipes) along with cups of tea and 1996), and such was the case in this study. snacks. Cannabis, on occasion, assumes a Residents and visitors in all villages where sacred character as a favorite intoxicant of fieldwork was conducted were engaged , an important Hindu deity. in relation to production, consumption, Cannabis’ use was so regular, yet ordi- and trade of hashish obtained from locally nary, that people did not find any need to grown cannabis plants. I focused my atten- record the uncontroversial practices of its tion on the local community, in which use. In Miller’s (2009:18) terms, cannabis almost every household is entrenched in has been a “humble” object in the hill soci- the hashish trade, which has connections eties of Himachal Pradesh, subsumed under with the domestic and global cannabis a web of social relations in such a manner market. Owing to the illegality of the trade, that its influence was only limited to its utility my fieldwork required some amount of

Journal of Ethnobiology 2018 38(4): 504–516 506 Tribhuvan sensibility and presence of mind and, most universe. Society is made up of networks significantly, support from local cultivators of both humans and objects, wherein both and producers. Although it was difficult act upon each other; this process of acting to access the field initially without being and being acted upon is not unidirectional. suspected of either being an undercover This conception of the human-object rela- police officer or a large-scale drug dealer, tionship paved the way for a different view I garnered trust within the group of local of the anthropological concepts of agency, dealers in due course. actors, and what comprises social action. My fieldwork was interspersed with Latour (2005) asks, if social action is to be visits to Kullu, the main administrative only considered as action that is informed town in the region, to collect data on by intention and meaning, how do we cannabis related offenses. I also inter- account for the many actions undertaken viewed police officials to understand the by objects that alter the state of affairs in administration of cannabis-related issues in personal and public spheres? He calls for the region. Archival work was carried out, equal attention to both humans and objects which included examining local newspa- as “actants” and questions the practice of per reports on cannabis in the Kullu district privileging humans over objects as being and other areas of Himachal Pradesh. the only set of legitimate actors. For Latour Finally, an intensive literature review, based (2005), the only criterion that an actor, out of libraries in New Delhi and Simla, both human and non-human, should the capital of Himachal Pradesh state, was fulfil to be categorized as an agent is to undertaken to learn the global material make a difference in the course of affairs history of cannabis; this included reading of another agent. Here, he delineates a international books and journal articles on need to find the place of objects in social the topic. worlds not as simply background props or as overtly determining factors, but as things Agency and Materiality in Cannabis that might also “authorize, allow, afford, The attribution of agency to non- encourage, permit, suggest, influence, humans and the subsequent redefinitions block, render possible, forbid, and so on” and refinement of the concept of material (Latour 2005:72). objects as social actors has been a significant This article argues for cannabis as a move towards acknowledging the power significant social actor in sections of the that material objects hold over human lives. Indian Himalayas. Cannabis plays an equal Latour (1993), Pickering (2000), and Law part in ushering in sporadic social transfor- and Hassard (1999) have contested litera- mations in the region along with human ture that unwittingly accepts the monopoly actors. I go further to present the nature of humans as the only “active” agents in a and extent of social transformation in the world consisting of humans, non-humans, region as a consequence of a continuing and objects. They criticized the tendency engagement between the local commu- of most social sciences to either miss mate- nity and cannabis. This engagement often rial and technological objects completely constitutes strategies and social action on in their analyses or relegate them to a the part of the local community, as it nego- secondary existence as simply products tiates different facets of cannabis’s dynamic of human activity or empty vessels wait- socio-cultural and material “personality” ing to be inscribed by culture. For Latour to utilize it for profit or otherwise. Regions (1993), such a tendency is reductionist, in the Indian Himalayas where cannabis since it confers the ability to act only to a or hashish is illegally cultivated and sold small portion of the entities that inhabit the become sites of contestation and transfor-

Journal of Ethnobiology 2018 38(4): 504–516 Cannabis and Social Change in the Indian Himalayas 507 mation, where human will to utilize an Humble Herb to an Illegal Narcotic object to satisfy individual needs encoun- The phenomenon of global circula- ters socio-material properties of the object, tion of objects, especially from colonized properties that both facilitate and resist countries to other parts of the world, was such utilization. one of the most significant aspects of colo- The ability of objects like cannabis nization and its twin process globalization to be social actors can be attributed to a (Tsing 2005). Indigenous objects from the few factors working in conjunction to rest of the world traveled to the western make them influential. Significant amongst hemisphere, where they were culturally these factors are the object’s physical and re-interpreted. The fact that these objects material properties (also conceptualized were separated from their social worlds in terms of its materiality), its history of meant that the new meanings and uses circulation and cultural content, social attached to the object were inconsistent relations and history posing as “natural” with their cultural use in the regions to which properties of the object (or simply rela- they originally belonged. Hornborg (2011) tions of fetish that are attached to it), and points out that these material objects, now the object’s relationship with the region it bereft of their social contexts, were ready to influences the most (Bennett 2010; Boivin be used, exploited, and fetishized by West- 2008; Taussig 2004). These factors make ern society. Social relations that performed cannabis a medium through which individ- the function of integration of objects into uals and community in Himachal Pradesh their social worlds were replaced by rela- can significantly improve their standard tions of fetish. Cannabis, possessed of a of living, while cannabis may also act as dynamic materiality with its peculiar intoxi- a medium for great distress and, in a few cating effect and unfamiliarity, was a prime cases, death. candidate for fetishization after it was intro- Cannabis is first and foremost a flow- duced to , and later North America, ering plant, and its ubiquity in the Indian by colonizing countries in the eighteenth Himalayas, along with its rather common century. The original introduction was as herb-like outer features, betrays the contri- hemp, but as cannabis traveled to Europe bution of its materiality to its influence. and America, it successively acquired Pollan (2001) cites two important aspects the status of an exclusive intoxicant and of cannabis’ materiality to understand why an illegal substance. In the initial years of it has mesmerized and invaded new soci- cannabis’ encounter with European society, eties globally in past few decades. First, it was often mistaken as and books is its ability to gratify human desires that written around that time usually exagger- instigates people to consume and culti- ated its ability to induce intoxication (Da vate it. Cannabis induces shifts in mental Orta 1913; De Quincey 2003). Gradually, states and creates pleasurable emotions. European use of cannabis for intoxication This property is mainly attributed to a overshadowed its use for hemp to such an group of biochemical compounds together extent that, by the later nineteenth century, known as . The second factor it was exclusively used as an intoxicant. is cannabis’s ability to adapt to varied In North America, use of cannabis as an climatic and geological conditions and, exclusive intoxicant was reinforced by thus, to grow and flower in diverse areas. artistic interpretations and socio-cultural As a result, cannabis has been produced at movements, including the Beat movement, large-scales on the European, and later the the Rastafarian movement, and the North American, continent. movement (Hamid 2002; Roszak 1969). In

Journal of Ethnobiology 2018 38(4): 504–516 508 Tribhuvan the early twentieth century, in the United The Parvati valley, inhabited by more than States, cannabis was publicly demonized 70 villages, is the crux of charas cultiva- as violence-inducing and dangerous for tion and trade in the district. Lonely Planet individuals and for the cultural fabric of the Guide (Singh et al. 2007), in its continuing society. Public opinion of cannabis, partic- annual editions on India, marks the valley ularly amongst middle and upper-middle with a red star to signify it as a place to classes, was generally negative, as cannabis find the best hashish in the world. The local was viewed as a dangerous substance, espe- cultivators and dealers are aware of the fact cially for youth. Subsequently, cannabis was that their charas is popular globally through to be heavily regulated in the U.S., first by their continuous engagement with foreign the Marihuana Tax act of 1937 and, later, by and domestic tourists. The local economy the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. in the Parvati valley and other parts of Most of Europe and North America had Kullu district has transformed remarkably completely outlawed cannabis by 1960 in the last 25 years. Agriculture, animal and were pressuring countries like India to husbandry, and forest resources tradition- regulate cannabis. In the Single Conven- ally formed the backbone of the economy tion on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 of the UN, there. These forms of livelihood persist India was categorically asked to devise a even today but, gradually, a considerable strict law for regulation of cannabis and population has shifted to activities that are other narcotic substances (Bewley-Taylor more market oriented, which include horti- 2001). The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotro- culture and tourism. In the last two decades pic Substances Act (NDPS) came into force or more, a major proportion of tourists on November 14, 1985, after much delib- entering the valley are drug tourists, who eration and preparation (Lohia 2013). The plan especially long vacations in the region NDPS Act applied to the entirety of India to smoke charas and indulge in activities and it effectively criminalized cannabis that are spawned around drug tourism. It and its products by declaring a gamut of is almost impossible to quantitatively esti- activities, such as production, circulation, mate the role of charas in influencing the and consumption, illegal. local economy because money generated Orientalism, globalization, and colo- from its sale cannot be legally accounted. nization coalesced in peculiar ways to Government records cannot and do not facilitate the circulation of cannabis to the indicate the amount of money generated global West and to establish its associa- by charas production and trade. But its tion with certain socio-cultural meanings influence can certainly be gauged in the that were far removed from the contexts economy of three villages where fieldwork of South Asian countries. These meanings was conducted to estimate the contribution attached to cannabis were to gradually of charas to the local economy. All house- overshadow its local uses and cultural holds in the three villages of Paramnagar, significance in India. Today these new, Keshavpur, and Shivanagari were involved “imported” meanings play a significant role in , charas production, in making cannabis influential in Himachal and trade. The money earned from charas Pradesh and facilitate its position as an did not always constitute the primary source important social actor in the region. of income for all households. Charas trade was often undertaken as a complementary Cannabis as an Agent of Social Change activity, along with cultivation of apples Hashish (henceforth referred to by its (Malus domestica), pears (Pyrus pyrifolia), local name charas) is the most profitable and plums (Prunus cultivar). Fruit tree agri- and important product of the cannabis plant culture is a major economic activity in the in the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh. area, along with tourism. However, the

Journal of Ethnobiology 2018 38(4): 504–516 Cannabis and Social Change in the Indian Himalayas 509 amount of money that charas brought into Although Muli did not engage in produc- the household economy was often more tion of charas, he acted as a middleman, than the “primary” sources of income. where he would buy charas in bulk from Deshu, for instance, was a 26-year- producers and sell it in units of tolas (10 old producer and dealer from the village grams) to tourists who stayed in his guest of Keshavpur. His family had three sources house. For most guesthouse owners, sell- of income: his father’s (a retired police ing charas was an equally important part of inspector) monthly pension, income from their business. their tourist guesthouse in Keshavpur, and A majority of tourists who entered the charas trade. Deshu told me, “this [charas] valley were budget travelers who preferred money is just extra money for us, but it is of to spend as little as possible on food and big help nevertheless. We use this money accommodation. Thus, profit margins from to do some household works like repairs or guesthouses and restaurants were low, sometimes to build new guest houses on though the scenario might be changing, our land.” Deshu earned about 150–200 with more family tourists from domestic thousand rupees from charas production urban centers entering the valley. Guest- and sale annually, about 100–150 thousand houses and restaurants also made profit rupees from his guesthouse during tourist by selling charas within their premises. For season, and his father’s annual pension families that belonged to the lower castes, was around 200 thousand rupees. Thus, his who had comparatively lesser land hold- family was equally dependent on charas as ings than others, charas business was more it was on other sources of income. If we significant, since it contributed to a large consider the fact that most tourists prefer part of their annual income. For example, to stay in guesthouses that sell charas, we Chunnialal, a 41-year-old man from the must also factor it into this assessment. lower caste of lohar, once told me, “growing Along similar lines, Raja Thakur, charas does not require you to own family from the village of Paramnagar, identified land [khandaani zamin]. Charas is grown himself mainly as a horticulturist. He told on government land [sarkaari zameen], of me, “My family owns around two acres of which there is plenty for everyone.” He was land, on which we mostly grow apples. In referring to the fact that cannabis is culti- a good year, we earn about 200–250 thou- vated on forest land in upper mountainous sand annually from our apple orchards.” regions in the valley, and not on agricultural Raja Thakur’s younger brother ran his own land. He continued, “A few lower caste guesthouse and earned between 100–150 families from upper valley have become thousand rupees per year. Raja and his two wealthier than even the Thakurs [upper brothers were also involved in charas trade caste land owners]. They own guesthouses and, together, the three of them earned and have started buying homes. In Sheila about 300–400 thousand rupees annu- village, one such family has the biggest ally through the business. In many such house in the village.” cases, contribution of charas to the house- A family from the lower caste in the hold income equaled or exceeded other village of Shivanagari had earned enough sources of income. Similarly, Muli was the profit from charas to build their own guest- priest (pujari) for the village of Shivanagari. house on the outskirts of their village. He owned apple orchards and produced Tegraam, the senior most male member of vegetables, including tomatoes (Solanum the family, shared that he was also plan- lycopersicum) and potatoes (Solanum ning to set up a small restaurant for tourists tuberosum), from his land. In addition, near his guesthouse. Charas cultivation his guest house, in the main market near and trade increased household income for Shivanagari, was a major source of income. most families in the valley by almost 50

Journal of Ethnobiology 2018 38(4): 504–516 510 Tribhuvan to 100%, in a few cases even more. This with younger traders and with me (since meant an increase in the standard of living, my fieldwork was conducted mainly with with bigger, sturdy concrete homes and traders). Puri was reprimanded by village better conditions of living for most families. elders a few times and, in one local village This was more evident for families belong- meeting, an elder advised him to watch out ing to the lower castes, whose access to while spending cannabis money, since it economic improvement was traditionally may bring him bad luck if spent carelessly. hindered due to small land holdings and About six months later, Puri was diagnosed occupational restrictions. with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Cannabis’ contribution to the local (HIV) and his and his family’s efforts to keep economy reflects its ability to significantly it a secret were to no avail, since the doctor transform material conditions of human life at the nearest hospital had already spoken with an ability to influence generation and about it to a few villagers. Puri’s HIV status distribution of wealth in the region. Income was a topic of discussion in many official earned from cannabis trade has empow- meetings and informal gatherings, and was ered a few families from the traditional used as an “example” of the dangers one lower castes as they venture into trades can incur when becoming too involved and professions which were not accessi- with cannabis. ble to them due to meagre resources and Charas trade, though profitable, is limited socio-cultural capital. By providing illegal and the enormity of scale of its oper- the traditional lower caste opportunities ation in the region meant a large presence to raise their standard of living, cannabis of police personnel and Narcotics Control underscores its role as an influential social Bureau (NCB) agents in the villages of the actant, as it continues to challenge local valley and on the roads connecting these structures. villages. One could observe tourists and Money earned from charas was villagers being frisked by the roadside or on invested in horticulture, children’s educa- thin mountain paths that connected villages tion, construction of new homes or on any given day. Hundreds of tourists and guesthouses, and setting up new restau- a few cultivators, traders, and dealers are rants in the main town. On the other hand, caught each year by the police; many of this money also contributed to the growth them have to endure time in prison, fines, of local gambling enterprises and increase and the humiliation that accompanies the in consumption of alcohol for charas culti- act of being caught in public spaces. The vators and dealers. Money earned from office of the Superintendent of Police at charas trade was sometimes referred to as Kullu reported around 510 cases (out of “ ka paisa” (cannabis money), which which 143 were local residents) registered has a connotation of money acquired by under the NDPS Act in the Kullu district, selling intoxication (in local terms “nasha in the year 2012, for charas possession/ bechna”) to youth to earn money, akin to cultivation. The villages of Keshavpur, committing a sin. Most of the cultivation Paramnagar, and Shivanagari—some of the and trade was carried out by young to most significant villages in the circuit—had middle-aged men, and many of them often a few young men and women caught by indulged in soliciting prostitutes, consump- local police or NCB for producing and tion of alcohol, and gambling from the carrying commercial quantities of charas. money they earned from the business. One Keshavpur, a village with population of of the most successful charas traders in the 110, had three men who were serving region, Puri, was infamous for soliciting prison sentences and at least six others prostitutes. This often led to feuds within his who had either served sentences or had family, which meant he would spend time been let off after stern warning. Similarly,

Journal of Ethnobiology 2018 38(4): 504–516 Cannabis and Social Change in the Indian Himalayas 511

Shivanagari, a slightly bigger village with a stress, believed to be a result of Manga- population of 180, had 11 men who were tram’s recent behavior. Mangatram’s family, serving prison sentences. Most women in especially his wife and two children, were these villages were involved in activities immediate victims of his arrest. His elder related to cultivation and harvesting of son had taken to heavy consumption of cannabis but rarely participated in sale. charas, alcohol, and what are known as In families where male members were “chemicals” in the valley: MDMA and absent due to prison sentences or deaths, heroin. Mangatram’s long absence was women conducted all activities. Two believed to have triggered his son’s habits. women from Shivanagari were in prison There were other cases where arrests and and had cases registered against them for imprisonment meant that life trajectories carrying two and five kilos of charas, respec- of individuals and their family members tively. Most people who were arrested in were greatly affected. Time spent in the the valley and prosecuted further or were prison continued to affect individuals and serving sentences for crimes related to the their families even after they were released. NDPS Act were between 20 and 40 years Additionally, friendships and partnerships old. As per the Act, the punishment for were forged in prison with other drug deal- being caught with a commercial quantity of ers from other parts of the country and the charas (greater than 1 kg) is 10 to 20 years of world. These illicit connections were used rigorous imprisonment. Hence, there was a to smuggle more harmful substances, like good chance that most of the dealers and cocaine and heroin, into the valley for sale cultivators arrested for charas trade spent a to the tourists. In cases similar to those few years of their youth inside prisons. A described above, cultivators and dealers couple of men, one from Shivanagari and associated with cannabis and their fami- one from the village of Paramnagar were lies paid dearly for their involvement with released in 2010 after ten years of impris- the substance. Chony, a trader who was onment. One of them, Mangatram, used to arrested when he was 21 years old and be a local contractor before he was picked released only in the year 2010, when he up in 1999 for possession of about two was 33, once told me, pointing to a piece kilos of charas. Mangatram was a success- of charas, “this thing has destroyed my ful contractor and had taken up selling life. It has overtaken every part of my life, charas, like others in his village, for extra but still I have to keep it close to me.” For income. His peers from Shivanagari clearly those who were most grievously affected recalled a marked change in Mangatram’s by cannabis, it was indeed a powerful behavior during his time in prison when he actor, with an ability to greatly alter their came for annual visits on leave and after life stories. Cannabis here was more than the completion of his term. His fondness Latour’s (2005) non-human agent, it was a for alcohol had increased considerably and “transgressive” substance (Taussig 1999), he gradually came to be a village drunk. with a human-like ability to influence other He had completely stopped working, even human life in every sphere. though he had enough local networks and Since there was an imminent risk of goodwill to restart his work as a building being arrested for participating in canna- contractor. In 2012, it was almost impos- bis cultivation and trade, all activities were sible to undertake long conversations with carried out in secret with a tacit but appar- him since he was in a heavy state of inebri- ent understanding between the villagers ation most of the time. Although he had and police personnel. Police officers and earned enough money from his ventures NCB personnel played a significant role in earlier to support himself and his family, sustaining the charas trade in Kullu. Most his wife had taken ill mostly because of police personnel posted in the region were

Journal of Ethnobiology 2018 38(4): 504–516 512 Tribhuvan from the Kullu district, and many amongst immigrant laborers and tourists to main- them were from Parvati valley. Many tain an impression of controlling the charas had personal interests in the trade either trade. This, however, did not mean that local because of the money they extorted from traders or cultivators and local police offi- cultivators and traders or because local cers were always safe. Many undercover police officers’ families too were involved NCB agents from the central office in New in the trade and a good portion of their Delhi were posted in the region to report on family income was dependent on charas. local officers indulging in corruption and to There was an inherent contradiction in the gather information on large-scale cultivators demands that were put on police person- and dealers. There were intermittent reports nel, since their profession demanded that on a big local cultivator or a prominent local they arrest charas cultivators/dealers and personality arrested with large quantities of tourists involved in the cannabis complex, charas. This meant that there was persistent while they were simultaneously obligated paranoia of undercover agents or of surprise by their social networks to go easy on raids from police departments under the consumers in order to not damage tourism pressure of state or central government. This and to support their families and peers in paranoia manifested itself through strained earning money from the business. In most social relationships and broken families, cases, police personnel acted in favor of as arrests of local dealers were attributed their own interests when faced with such to jealousy within the local community, contradictions. Police officers usually took leading to surreptitious reporting of their bribes in the form of charas and money peers. In a few cases, this paranoia mani- from local producers and dealers. A “gift” fested in the form of violence. One of the of money and charas from locals acted as most important rules of managing charas an implicit request to the officers involved trade as a public secret was that no culti- to give advanced notice about raids, be vator or dealer was to make an apparent lenient to guests who were staying in guest show of income acquired through the trade, houses that might consume charas, and since it was detrimental to the interests of continue to stay on good terms with the the community and the police department. particular trader. The police officer may If local residents or police got an impression or may not reciprocate, might adhere to that a dealer was earning large amount of the implicit bond or not, and the traders money from the trade and made no efforts to usually had no control over this. The police hide it, he was reprimanded as a first warn- officer almost always had an upper hand ing and, in a few cases, his home was raided in exchanges with local charas traders. An and he was arrested. There were two cases exception was when some traders or culti- in the past ten years where a local cultiva- vators involved had political clout in the tor/dealer was found dead in the forest. One region with enough influence to affect the of the deceased dealers was from Shivana- officer’s job. gari and was spoken of as the richest dealer Every year, the police department in the in the valley when he was alive. He was Kullu district and the state administration found dead under a big rock, with the offi- claimed to control the cannabis “menace” cial reports saying he was probably killed by arresting cultivators/smugglers and burn- in a small landslide. However, common ing stands of illegal cultivation. These claims knowledge was that he was murdered by were supported by reports of a number of his village peers on account of the fortune arrests and acres of cultivated land burned he had amassed and the fact that he refused by police on state department websites. to reduce the scale of his operations. Some- Police personnel posted on the ground times this violence was directed towards played their part by arresting powerless tourists, especially those who attempted

Journal of Ethnobiology 2018 38(4): 504–516 Cannabis and Social Change in the Indian Himalayas 513 to dabble in the trade or were already a forms of entertainment, and language. part of it. During my fieldwork of about Many young men imbibe aspects of tourist’s one year, there were ten deaths involving lifestyles and their worldviews in their own tourists in the region. While most of them lives. Shiva and Deshu both were unmarried were reported to be caused by drug over- and 27 years old when I met them. While dose, there were at least three instances that the average age of marriage in Keshavpur, involved drug deals with local dealers that Shivanagari, and Paramnagar was around had allegedly gone sour. While the causes 21 (however, it was successively increasing, and details of these deaths were shrouded in and one could find quite a few 25-year-old ambiguity, these sporadic incidents helped bachelors in villages), both Deshu and Shiva sustain a sense of imminent violence in the were not very keen on getting married soon. region. Shiva, in his own words was too young to Cannabis is cultivated on state forest- commit to a marriage. He wanted to travel land, at a higher altitude from villages in the world and had already visited Goa and the valley. These spaces are chosen to keep Thailand with his British girlfriend. He often police officers away from plantations, lest expressed how he thought that his peers they destroy cannabis plants on one of from the valley who got married early and the state’s anti-cannabis missions. Tracts of sought to settle down were too conventional forests were cleared by burning to make and led a boring lifestyle. Karma Thakur, a way for cannabis plantations. In the months dealer from Shivanagari, was 42 years old of February and March, one could see fumes and unmarried. He said he did not want in the sky and flames in the upper forest of to sacrifice his “freestyle” life for a seden- the region, an ominous sign of large-scale tary one. Karma often referred to himself destruction of forest resources and clear- as a peaceful hippie. Young men like Shiva ing of forestland. There were frequent contrasted traditional ways of living within discussions within the local community local structures with seemingly carefree, that cannabis-induced forest clearing was adventurous lives of their “hippie” (local destroying the ecology to such an extent idiom for international cannabis tourists) that it might have serious consequences in friends and showed an explicit preference the region in the years to come. However, for the latter. Cannabis’ agential role was, in the absence of a locally comprehensive thus, not confined to its legal status and study, the extent of ecological imbalance economic use. Its influence as a social actor caused by cannabis cultivation in the area permeated the local society in ways that cannot yet be accurately quantified. The were not easily discernible—for example imbalance manifested periodically through its effect on local ecology or its impact on landslides and deposition of infertile silt on cultural and moral categories. land used to cultivate fruits and vegetables. Introduction of global cannabis Cannabis-fueled tourism has influenced subcultures through tourists influenced youth culture in the region and has shaped consumption practices with respect to lifestyles and worldviews of its young men cannabis and other intoxicants. Global and women. Young and middle-aged men, cannabis cultures have a tendency to who act as brokers for foreigners and domes- combine consumption of cannabis with tic tourists for charas or other activities, other, potentially more addictive and actively mingle with the tourists, developing harmful substances. Cannabis-inuced drug close relationships, often exploiting them tourism introduced substances, such as for economic and personal gain. Influence cocaine and opium derivatives like heroin, of international tourism can be observed ketamine, MDMA (commonly known as through patterns of consumption of food ecstasy), and Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and intoxicants, attire, tastes in music, (LSD), in the region. Drugs were brought

Journal of Ethnobiology 2018 38(4): 504–516 514 Tribhuvan into the valley by a network of tourists and There are many factors that contribute to local dealers or those from outside and were social change in the Himalayan regions sold locally for high profit margins. Easy in India. These factors can be political, access to drugs worked in conjunction with socio-economic, or cultural. Forces of the influence of drug subcultures to increase neo-liberalization, globalization, and tech- instances of consumption amongst residents, nological advancement have played an especially youth. Psychological problems important part in gradually changing the amongst local youth and intermittent cases way of life in the Himalayas. However, in of death due to drug overdose had gained the Parvati valley and a few other regions in significant traction in the last decade, with the Indian Himalayas, where these forces at least one such case reported every six have worked in conjunction with cannabis months. I witnessed three deaths of young at various levels, social change has been men between 20 and 35 years old, under rapid, extensive, and, to a large extent, circumstances that pointed to drug overdose, unpredictable. during the year I spent in three villages of Cannabis is a powerful object and a the Parvati valley and knew two youths who social “actant” in the Parvati valley. It colors were abandoned by their families because every aspect of human life in the valley in of their addiction to various substances. The its own hue. Cannabis regularly challenges problem of drug addiction amongst youth and transgresses boundaries of its influence was so important to the villagers that one of to create an upheaval in people’s lives. The the most significant institutions in Himachal force that presents cannabis the capacity to Pradesh, the village devtaa or local god, had create perturbation and exuberance in soci- to step in and declare a ban on all intoxi- ety has both biological and social origins, cants (including alcohol, but not cannabis) derived from its materiality and from its inside the boundaries of the village of Param- historical and present engagement with nagari, irrespective of the financial losses human life. This energy of cannabis is not it might incur for the people. The village wholly contained within its bodily boundar- devtaa is the most important religious figure ies. As Ingold (2011) proposes, it is released in the region and it organizes social and when “things” (actants), like cannabis, inter- individual life profoundly through periodic act with other actants, like humans, or with rituals. In times of great distress or signifi- societies in their vicinity. In an ecological cant events, the devtaa talks to its people understanding of cannabis’ influence, we through a designated individual chosen find that the force that makes such an influ- by the devtaa through a socio-ritualistic ence possible finds its source in the process procedure. However, many villagers did of its interaction with the society. When not follow the devtaa’s order in Paramnagari individuals and communities engage with and continued to sell intoxicants in their powerful actants like cannabis, such an guesthouses. This was an extremely sensitive engagement is, by nature, fecund in terms issue for some local residents, since they of transformation and the creation that it thought that cannabis trade and the entities engenders. The potential of such an interac- that it brought to the region had challenged tion of a particular object with the society and transgressed one of the strongest taboos to transform individual lives and challenge in the region—the taboo of disobeying the societal boundaries is at once both the village devtaa. hallmark of the object’s power, as well as one of the factors that makes it powerful. In Conclusion: Social Change and Powerful other words, cannabis becomes a powerful Objects social actor in the Parvati valley because Social change is an organic, continuous, of its influence on social transformation in and gradual process. It is also inevitable. the region. In what can be construed as a

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