A bill prepared by the government to legalize marijuana cultivation for certain purposes has been presented in the Gandaki Provincial Assembly. Minister for Industry and Tourism Mitra Lal Basyal presented the bill to regulate and manage marijuana cultivation for medicinal and industrial purposes in the meeting on Monday.

Participating in the general discussion, Congress MP Dilliram Subedi said that the bill brought with the aim of 'controlled legality' will bring both opportunities and risks. He said that if proper regulation is done, good results can be achieved in the use of barren land and tax increase.

Subedi said that there is a rumor that marijuana determines the status written at midnight without mentioning the name of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah (Balen). 'The new generation has a different attraction to this on social media and there is a rumor in society that this also determines the status written at midnight. It is a matter of consideration to see how these two can be controlled and balanced to move forward,' he said.

UML MP Ganeshman Gurung claimed that the attraction of hippies who came to Nepal around 1960 was marijuana and hashish along with nature. He said that Gandaki Province's marijuana can be supplied to the world for medicinal use. He said that if marijuana cultivation is properly regulated, the compulsion to go abroad will also end. He said that Gandaki's marijuana can be branded as the marijuana used by Mahadev. 'Ganja also proves that Mahadev resides in Mansarovar Kailash,' he added, 'If we promote and take the marijuana used by Mahadev as being from this province, now is the time for propaganda. We can make a logo and trademark it.'

Maoist MP Resham Bahadur Jugjali said that they will make a law but there should be no confusion later. He suggested not to do the same after the marijuana cultivation law came into effect, just as the federal government's letter confused the government while implementing ride sharing. He thanked the federal government and the six provincial governments for not having the courage to bring the bill.