India's scenic drug haven

[glock23]

Baba had some really crap black hashes. Admittedly, it isn't one of the 'best', but hash is supposedly their specialty.

I meant it was worth 22 a gram after cutting....i.e., if you buy a kilo of good hash for 1000 Euro and cut it with henna, crushed fan leaf or whatever else you have on hand, you might reach 2000 Euro...hence the value of a gram could be $22 a gram after being mixed with adulterants...know what I mean?

The media totally inflates the value of drug seizures though...I'm just giving an example of how it could be possible in an extreme situation just for the sake of argument..lol

 

[Hitman]

More Bhang for your buck

 

[Guest]

Kullu police and Homo Guards

No wonder they seem like they have a pickle up their ass. These people have been making hash like this for millenia....leave 'em alone. Man I want some of that malana cream mmmm.

 

[mriko]

well, that 22$per gram is not that unaccurate actually. In some A'dam Coffeeshop you can find some charas at 15 euros or more per gram. But it has to be top notch ! Or... supposedly. It's oftenly too fresh one to be truly good, and Malana is as well a "trademark" which one pays for, as for nike or levis.

If memory serves, at one of the Greenhouse they sell something called "top mountain" for close to 20 euros per gram. Damn fucking bastards, what a rip-off !

Irie !

 

[naga_sadu]

No wonder they seem like they have a pickle up their ass. These people have been making hash like this for millenia....leave 'em alone. Man I want some of that malana cream mmmm.

It is pretty unfortunate such crap happens. What you saw is a classic example of bureaucratic backsheesh bet. the pushers and the polise rather than a "war on drugs." Sometimes backsheesh rates go up. I dunno maybe related to inflation? Some pushers can keep up, others can't. Those who can't end up getting fucked at times. Also, at times what ends up happening is some pushers would get some better fortune the prev. "season" and want more control over the market. So, since you can't compete legally after 1989, they do it through backsheesh.

Because whatever said or done, no matter how much hauls they've made, the effect wasn't even felt like a mosquito bite for 1 second in the market in terms of quantity or price. If they had a "war on drugs" you won't see shit like this:





Same crocodile shit in Kerala but w/ different bribers. The previous Cong-I government was more corporate leaning + wanted to attract FDI into the state. The first one to fork their noses in are the pharmas. And strangely enough, as pharmas started coming in, the state police started an op where 800 acres of cannabis crop were destroyed. This was NEVER done under Marxist governments. But still, price and quantity didn't flinch upwards/ downwards a single bit. The corpo leaning prev. govt. did stupid shit like this- because MNCs can give lots of backsheesh.

I mean, in what fucking way are some acres of plants going to benefit the state? I thought building schools and shit would. Thankfully, that government was a "previous" and ppl. restored the Marxist government back.

In Kerela change was possible because the backsheeshing went on @ pol. levels. In places like manali, it happens at a bureaucratic level, which is harder to handle. But in both cases- the common reason (why such unhelpful activity was on account of the public taxpayers) is backsheesh. Not policy or any other gloss the media adds over it. That's just done to justify the situation.

Anyway, we had none of this problem before 1989. Because buds were legal in all forms. When it's illegalised or pushed into the gray area, there's plenty of room for corruption and backsheesh simply because consumption has no relation as to legality whatsoever. And the social cost is enormous. Not only is tax money being lost, but also lots of money gets rotated within corrupt circles. It's simply unfortunate that the local government gave into neo-liberalism rather than take the prev. route, which was really much, MUCH better as a whole. After all, a few fancy skyrises w/ "executive suites" doesn't necessarily mean you're better off because over all...because 90% of the ppl. don't get to enjoy those corporate facilities. And they have to end up putting up with bloody bullshit MNC enforced dictates (those pharma devils) such as criminilising a natural resource. Cannabis used to be used nationwide as medicine and recreation since like 4000 BC. It's so sad that the govt. of 1989 didn't hesitate to make this integral part of our culture into a criminal activity under pressure from pharma corpos.

Now not all MNCs push for the illegalisation drive. And they don't do it directly. They do it through their governments, who in turn collectively pass a UN resolution making such crap mandatory. The ones who are very guilty of pushing for worldwide mj illegalisation drive (at least in South Asia) are the paper, cotton (to some extent), alcohol, and pharmaceutical MNCs. Mainly, cannabis and its preparations were used for medicinal value. Not many bought alopathy. But noone gave a shit because in the pre-89 (Socialist) days, everything was state run. So, there was no "profit or loss" question for one industry or other. The MNCs wanted to penetrate the local market. For the pharmas, the illegalisation of cannabis would see a major prospective competition suppressed. As in, alopathy (western medicine) which is given by MNCs take the dominant form of medicine, since a major alternative has been made illegal.

Cotton is a major substitute for hemp. The alcohol MNCs would also favour cannabis illegalisation because both are "recreational" goods- thus an area for prospective competition.

At least in South Asia, cannabis legalisation can oversee the self sustenance of villages- which is where 90% of people live. But alas, though this is a good policy to see it promoted + Legalised, the MNCs who have their selfish interest in seeing cannabis illegalised have more immediate currency/ assets to offer the local government. And the only thing which is preventing a complete logical rollback to pre-89 levels is that there are too many politicians and too few leaders. Leaders think 40-50 years ahead, politicians think for the next election. And politicians would say they have 1-2 children leaders would say they have 1.2 billion...

This sort of market penetration tactics used and exploited by MNCs who happen to have mroe cash flow, is what fucks shit up in 3rd world countries. Same in Thailand, for example. Same patterns just different geographies. And Thailand took it to epic proportions because the PM of the country, Thaksin Shinawatra is a hardcore corpo-kappi. And to think that some powerful shotcallers in Thailand didn't benefit as a result of thei brutal drug war is naive. In India, we have a strong Marxist representation. At least this ensures that we won't have elehpant feces like Thaksin run the government.

The more representation the MNCs in the alcohol, paper, cotton, pharma have in a country, the crappier the local drug laws. Think about it.This statement holds true abt. 99% of the time in "developing" or "3rd world" societies. As in, the amount of corporatism can be directly compared to the severity of the country's prevailing pot laws. That's why I always feel the Socialist days were much better.

Things are slowly going back to pre-1989 levels and I just hope the legalisation will be back in full swing, nationwide. It may be slow and hard but it will surely happen, I'm hopeful. But I'd say- the situation is a large improvement from the mid 90s. I just hope that this common sense prevails ASAP.

 

[Guest]

ironically the strongest hash I smoked in India was in Calcutta, followed by some I smoked in Haridwar on the Ganges with some sadhus

Varanasi is a pretty good place too, as there is such a variety on offer

1300 seems a lot to pay for ~ 10g esp. up in Manali -

in Calcutta it was about 700, just from a random guy on the street - and what I lucked out with was fucking great

any idea the likely origin for hashish over that far East- do they grow much in Bengal?

Darjeeling and Sikkim were not much good IME - just feral stuff, which was what made me wonder

the sadhus on the train through Bengal seemed like the real deal, and there was some nice religious artwork that looked Saivite to me, and fully psychedelic too - and lush rich green vegetation everywhere

yeh - and Calcutta seemed to me to be the Indian city with the most intense buzz, and likewise it is the Eastern Himalaya that really rocks my boat

ramble ramble - but any thoughts?

Namkha

 

[naga_sadu]

Darjeeling and Sikkim were not much good IME - just feral stuff, which was what made me wonder

Travel on any non-town bus (long dist bus). You woulda seen ppl. sitting on rooftops of the bus. Lotsa guys sit here. The people who sit inside the bus are usually families, etc, etc. So it's best to sit on the roof. The chances of you finding some good charas here is as good as scoring some good weed in Laos's river ferry system- i.e. pretty damn good Take the state run bus because the priv. operators don't allow ppl to sit on roofs etc. But- just duck when everybody does...

the sadhus on the train through Bengal seemed like the real deal, and there was some nice religious artwork on the way through Bengal on the train - and lush rich green vegetation everywhere

There are "new age" Sadus as well as the traditional ones. The latter seldom travel in trains + most their journey is ALWAYS done on foot. The traditional ones are the ppl you want to talk to if you you want anything useful to come out of your conversation. But yea, at least the cool thing is both smoke

any idea the likely origin for hashish over that far East- do they grow much in Bengal?

They do. Lots also comes from Assam, though. In Bengal, the Marxist government (the longest in office) has pretty much maintained a "keep your hands off the villages" kinda policy. However, even within Bengal, most of the growing happens in the area nearing the Assam border. Just check a map if you want a visual of what I'm talking about.

It's not a very "touristy" landborne route but you can get to Assam via West Bengal thru the bus/ rail links. I prefer the bus link, actually. There won't be a single "super fast" bus but in your entire journey, you'll have to change buses. At least hey- you'll be lifted the whole time pretty much. Lorry drivers going this route always have charas. You can lorry hop also, and this way, he'll share his charas with u. But it will be nice if you can hook him up w/ food, etc- not that expensive.

Either ways you can plan a route which will take you from Calcutta (West Bengal) to Dispur (Assam) or Gwahati (Assam).

There's also plenty of growing in Bengal's Southern border, towards Orissa. The cool part is, you can find some very good quality bhang in Orissa. Also, as you proceed southwards, charas becomes more rare and bhang more common. If u are intending to cover Orissa from West Bengal, you should do a Calcutta- Puri journey on the state run bus or on a Royal Enfield 350cc. Puri is reall chill- stoners' heaven. It's a religious town tho, so no non vegetarian meals will be available. If you want to proceed further south from Puri, you can travel to Koraput, which is in the south not too far from the Andra Pradesh border. In Koraput, you will find that charas is now considerably rarer, but bhang is much more prevailent. From Koraput (South Orissa) you can further go south to Visakpattnam (Andra Pradesh). Quality bhang but not so quality charas + more harder to find charas. You can get charas, but quality won't be as consistant as what you'll run into in Assam. Now- there is bhang in Assam, pretty good too but I found that people in general prefer charas. In the south, it's mostly that people prefer bhang. You can travel cross country thru Andra Pradesh. No probs w/ finding bhang.

But when handling the southern parts of Orissa and rural Andra Pradesh, just carry some temporary hammer + sickle stickers on you this time + memorise a few lines outta Chairman Mao's speeches because this area has a problem with Maoist insurgencies. To be on the safe side, though, it's best not to go with flashy looking backpacks etc. Just dress simple and you should, for the most part be fine. The chances of u getting harassed by a Maoist, though is 1000 times lesser than the chance of getting harassed by an obese doughnut eating lard-o in East LA.

So yea plenty of growing going on in those parts that's for sure

Darjeeling and Sikkim were not much good IME - just feral stuff, which was what made me wonder

Where did you score? Did the charas u got give you the sensation of a head vibration? Did you feel that the "going up" and "peaking" was not as good as it coulda been?

 

[Guest]

heya Naga Sadu,

truly superb information, many thanks

ironically, throughout the time I was in India I was very focused on Buddhism and Buddhist meditation, and was only buying what came my way, not going out of my way to hunt down top quality and authenticity

hence when I was up in Sikkim and Darjeeling I was getting involved with the Buddhist life, and as you know there is little time given over to "somaradza" lol - also I didn't have a chance to spend much time with any Indians or Nepalis while I was there

the hash I was offered in Calcutta was good - seemed clean, and the high was strong and hallucinogenic, there was also pretty reasonable unseeded grass about

the route you're describing sounds like one I will have to do - and for a while I have been wanting to go to Pemako too, i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, and see some of the areas which are important to the Nyingmapa

brilliant, cheers

Namkha

 

[naga_sadu]

Namkha:-

You should also pay a visit to Rajestan. A unique charm on its own. You should try and learn camelback riding- though for the first few times, you should do it sober. Just give the handler a good 30-40 Rupees and he'll more than happily show you how to handle one. Once you've handled a camel sober, try it stoned.

Loitering into the desert blitzed on top of your ass in nighttime is an experience you won't soon forget. Nothing is more rewarding than a BBQ feast in the Thar stoned off your skull. Almost all the time, you'll have an escort accompanying you. The cool thing is- camel handlers (unless employed by 5 star "International" hotels) smoke There are lotsa villages, for example between Jaisalmer to Ajmer. You can find handlers in almost any. For obvious reasons (i.e. cars and buses) they aren't to be seen in the cities.

But make it back before morning, if you venture out in the evening. Unless you can handle extreme heat (deserts get HOT in the morning) try to avoid overnight camping. In general, lighter skinned people have a prob w/ this more than their darker skinned counterparts. Your escort should tell u this tho. But if your still insistant just carry SHIT LOADS of water on you.