Punakha
More actions
| Punakha | |
|---|---|
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Growing Region | Eastern Himalayas |
| Geography | |
| Country | Bhutan |
| Province/State | Punakha District |
| Coordinates | 27.66, 89.77 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 355 km² |
| Terrain | Valley slopes of the Punakha district where wild cannabis is harvested; approximately Shelnga-Bjemi, Kabisa and Goenshari gewogs |
| Growing history | |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Punakha is a cannabis growing area in Punakha District, Bhutan. In 2020 the district police said that cannabis grows abundantly in three of its gewogs (village blocks), Shengana, Kabisa and Goenshari, and that users and smugglers harvest it there.[1] The area belongs to the Eastern Himalayas growing region.
Geography
The Flora of Bhutan puts the valley floor at Punakha at 1,500 m and counts it with Thimphu and Paro among the main valleys that get little direct rain and stay dry for most of the year outside the monsoon.[2] In July 2018 leaf samples were taken from plants at Nubri and on the river bank below the school at Mischen, in Punakha; they were two of 17 sites sampled that summer in the basins of the Puna Tsang Chhu, the Wang Chhu and the Amo Chhu.[3]
Harvest
The Punakha police said in May 2020 that Shengana, Kabisa and Goenshari gewogs "are the hotspots for marijuana harvesting for abusers and smugglers since these gewogs have abundant growth of marijuana". They said that villagers were at times unconcerned about strangers harvesting the plant, and that some farmers were in the trade themselves, since it paid well while the border was in lockdown. Business Bhutan reported that most of the people involved in using and trafficking marijuana in the district were farmers, school dropouts and students.[1]
In September 2016 two men from Kabesa, in Punakha, were arrested at Genekha, in Thimphu, while rubbing marijuana plants in a paddy field.[4][5]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No recent news items.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Marijuana abuse, an increasing trend, after border lockdown". Business Bhutan. 19 May 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Grierson, A. J. C.; Long, D. G. (1983). Flora of Bhutan including a record of plants from Sikkim. Vol. 1. Edinburgh: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. part 1, "Geographical outline of Bhutan" and "Notes on the vegetation zones of Bhutan" – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "BioSample records BTN001–BTN095: Cannabis sativa leaf samples, Bhutan, 2018". National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Pem, Damchoe (1 October 2016). "Two held for marijuana possession". The Bhutanese. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ "Two farmers apprehended for allegedly possessing Hashish". BBS. 20 September 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2026.