On a visit to Bhutan, noted herpetologist Romelus Whitaker and his wife commented that the cannabis plant was growing everywhere and nobody seemed to even notice it. The Hindu quotes them as saying 'In Bhutan, marijuana grows everywhere. No one on the street looks twice at the distinctive plants along roadsides, in empty lots, and along garden hedgerows.'
This beautiful mountain kingdom with pristine nature and a largely intact ancient culture draws people from all over the world. The country keeps a strict regulation of the flow of international visitors so that it is not swept away in a wave of non-sustainable development in the form of tourism-related activities. The largely non-interventionist nature of the Bhutanese government has helped people and the plant to coexist peacefully together, with cannabis being used in both social and medical contexts without any major fuss. In fact, Bhutan is possibly a good example of how the world must have been before humans went crazy and decided to prohibit the plant saying it would make everybody mad. It is an example that society does not break down or implode in the presence of natural cannabis growing freely. The national happiness index is one the key measures employed in Bhutan and Bhutan is known as the Kingdon of Happiness. Bhutan however ranks 95th in the Global Happiness Index because the people of the country are not wealthy. To most people, especially the ones who rule the world, wealth is the primary source and measure of happiness, not contentment and nature.
What Bhutan needs to recognize is that the destruction done to the plant in nearly all other parts of the world have now made this plant very precious. Bhutanese cannabis varieties need to be protected and nurtured with the same kind of passion and reverence that the country holds for the rest of nature. Bhutan is likely to possess natural landraces of cannabis because of its geography and liberal political climate. In the 19th century, when the Indian Hemp Drugs Commision studied the spread of wild varieties of cannabis in the Indian subcontinent, it found that most wild varieties were only found in the Himalayan ranges. The rest of the subcontinent contained cultivated varieties of cannabis. Today, scientists interested in cannabis recognize the need to find these ancestral landraces of cannabis. A number of these landraces are likely to be rare with their own distinct healing properties. Thus, it is vital for the people of Bhutan to actively protect and sustain the plant for their well-being. There is the risk that neglect of the plant will cause the possible extinction of precious varieties not found elsewhere in the world. The global prohibition of cannabis has led to the extermination of many varieties by law and drug enforcement. The pursuit of cannabis containing high levels of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to serve the black market has led to the breeding of varieties of cannabis that are now imbalanced, containing unnatural levels of THC at the cost of other precious cannabinoids that together provide the entourage effect in the consumer that makes cannabis so effective.
This beautiful mountain kingdom with pristine nature and a largely intact ancient culture draws people from all over the world. The country keeps a strict regulation of the flow of international visitors so that it is not swept away in a wave of non-sustainable development in the form of tourism-related activities. The largely non-interventionist nature of the Bhutanese government has helped people and the plant to coexist peacefully together, with cannabis being used in both social and medical contexts without any major fuss. In fact, Bhutan is possibly a good example of how the world must have been before humans went crazy and decided to prohibit the plant saying it would make everybody mad. It is an example that society does not break down or implode in the presence of natural cannabis growing freely. The national happiness index is one the key measures employed in Bhutan and Bhutan is known as the Kingdon of Happiness. Bhutan however ranks 95th in the Global Happiness Index because the people of the country are not wealthy. To most people, especially the ones who rule the world, wealth is the primary source and measure of happiness, not contentment and nature.
What Bhutan needs to recognize is that the destruction done to the plant in nearly all other parts of the world have now made this plant very precious. Bhutanese cannabis varieties need to be protected and nurtured with the same kind of passion and reverence that the country holds for the rest of nature. Bhutan is likely to possess natural landraces of cannabis because of its geography and liberal political climate. In the 19th century, when the Indian Hemp Drugs Commision studied the spread of wild varieties of cannabis in the Indian subcontinent, it found that most wild varieties were only found in the Himalayan ranges. The rest of the subcontinent contained cultivated varieties of cannabis. Today, scientists interested in cannabis recognize the need to find these ancestral landraces of cannabis. A number of these landraces are likely to be rare with their own distinct healing properties. Thus, it is vital for the people of Bhutan to actively protect and sustain the plant for their well-being. There is the risk that neglect of the plant will cause the possible extinction of precious varieties not found elsewhere in the world. The global prohibition of cannabis has led to the extermination of many varieties by law and drug enforcement. The pursuit of cannabis containing high levels of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to serve the black market has led to the breeding of varieties of cannabis that are now imbalanced, containing unnatural levels of THC at the cost of other precious cannabinoids that together provide the entourage effect in the consumer that makes cannabis so effective.
Bhutan faces a double threat from its two giant neighbours - India and China. Both these nations see Bhutan as not just a market for their opioids and synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, but also as a route to move illegal heroin between Afghanistan, Myanmar, India and China so as to cater to eastern and western markets. Cannabis is a threat to these powerful industries who probably lobby Bhutan to destroy all cannabis found in the country. There is also the risk that the growing demand for medical cannabis among the western nations will make unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies and global businessmen attempt to seize control over the cultivation of the plant in Bhutan, stating that cannabis must remain prohibited for the people of Bhutan while the real intent will be to appropriate Bhutanese cannabis for European, North American and Oceanic customers. This is a common threat faced by many nations worldwide where cannabis was a part of their culture and varieties still remain that have escaped the foolish and shortsighted destruction of the plant by governments everywhere. Bhutan should look at integrating the plant into its industries if it wishes to pursue sustainable economics and not fall into the development trap that most nations around the world have done resulting in widespread environmental damage, loss of public health and wealth gap between the rich and the poor. Without vigilant awareness, it is just a matter of time before alcohol, petrochemicals, concrete, synthetic fibers, non-biodegradable petrochemical-based plastics, dangerous synthetic legal and illegal pharmaceutical drugs and the industries that manufacture them make inroads into the natural world of Bhutan, thus destroying the fabric of Bhutanese society. There is already evidence that India - the world's leading producer of legal opium - has started flooding the Bhutanese market with its dangerous opioids, especially tramadol. The United Nations Office of Drug Control (UNODC) reported in its World Drug Report 2020 that 'The non-medical use of tramadol among other pharmaceutical drugs is reported by several countries in South Asia: Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. In 2017, 130,316 capsules containing tramadol and marketed under the trade name “Spasmo Proxyvon Plus (‘SP+’)” were seized in Bhutan.'
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Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.'The non-medical use of tramadol among other pharmaceutical drugs is reported by several countries in South Asia: Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. In 2017, 130,316 capsules containing tramadol and marketed under the trade name “Spasmo Proxyvon Plus (‘SP+’)” were seized in Bhutan. In Sri Lanka, about 0.2 per cent of the population aged 14 and older are estimated to have misused pharmaceutical drugs in the past year. Among them, the non-medical use of tramadol is the most common, although misuse of morphine, diazepam, flunitrazepam and pregabalin have also been reported in the country. The misuse of more than one pharmaceutical drug (including tramadol) is also a common pattern among heroin users who may use them to potentiate the effects of heroin or compensate for its low level of availability. Recent seizures of tramadol suggest the existence of a market for the drug: in April and September 2018, 200,000 and 1.5 million tablets of tramadol were respectively seized by customs in Sri Lanka.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf
'In Bhutan, marijuana grows everywhere. No one on the street looks twice at the distinctive plants along roadsides, in empty lots, and along garden hedgerows. '
https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/My-Husband-and-Other-Animals-%E2%80%94-Plants-poison-man%E2%80%99s-potion/article13373736.ece
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