Whatever Nepal decides on cannabis, it should first document its landraces

Nepal is at a crossroads regarding cannabis policy, with several provinces moving towards legalization for medicinal and industrial purposes. Gandaki Province has passed a bill permitting cannabis farming, Karnali Province is increasing cultivation for oil, and Ilam has initiated a monitored hemp pilot. The federal budget has also referenced its commercialization, signaling a significant shift from the decades of prohibition under the Narcotic Drugs (Control) Act of 1976.

However, this policy shift raises concerns about the potential loss of Nepal's indigenous cannabis landraces. These locally adapted populations, cultivated for centuries in the country's hills, are poorly documented. Experts warn that a move towards large-scale, market-driven cultivation could lead to their extinction before their genetic and pharmacological potential can be fully understood.

A landrace is defined as a heterogeneous, locally adapted population with unique genetic variations shaped by generations of natural and human selection. Nepal's high-mountain cannabis populations, adapted to short growing seasons, heavy monsoons, and frost, are considered potential reservoirs of traits such as pathogen resistance, cold tolerance, and altitude adaptation. These characteristics are of growing interest in pharmacological research, particularly for their potential to harbor allelic and chemotypic variants absent in commercially bred strains.

Decades of prohibition and closed breeding practices are believed to have caused a genetic bottleneck in cultivated cannabis, leading to reduced genetic diversity in commercial varieties. Locally adapted landraces could offer a counterbalance by retaining alleles for stress resilience that have been lost in mainstream breeding lines. The question remains whether these valuable genetic resources still exist, and documentation is crucial to answer this empirical question.