Nepal's Supreme Court has issued a mandamus order directing the government to establish a regulatory framework for the controlled cultivation and production of cannabis for medicinal, scientific, agricultural, horticultural and industrial purposes, IANS reported from Kathmandu on Sunday.

Source: IANS

The court directed the government to formulate the necessary regulations, standards and procedures within three months. The order could pave the way for legal cultivation and production of cannabis nearly five decades after the Narcotic Drugs (Control) Act, 1976 criminalised its sale, cultivation and consumption. BizzBuzz carried the same IANS report.

Source: IANS via BizzBuzz

The court said that although the 1976 Act prohibits cannabis, it itself provides a legal basis for controlled cultivation and production for medicinal, scientific and industrial purposes — and found that this had remained impossible only because the government had failed to formulate the necessary regulations and procedures.

The court also ordered a strict regulatory and monitoring mechanism for issuing licences or permits for the commercial cultivation, production, processing, storage, use, sale, distribution, export and import of cannabis for the approved purposes, and said the mechanism must also prohibit unlawful cultivation, production, sale and distribution.

The judgment was delivered on May 18, 2025, but its full text was made public only a few days ago, because the document could not be located following a fire at the Supreme Court during the Gen Z protests on September 9 last year, IANS reported. On July 9 this year, the Gandaki Province Assembly unanimously passed a bill to license cannabis cultivation for medicinal and industrial purposes.