Charas

[1][2] The plant grows wild throughout Northern India[3] along the stretch of the Himalayas (its putative origin) and is an important cash crop for the local people.

Charas has been used across the Indian subcontinent for medicinal and religious purposes for thousands of years,[6] and was sold in government shops (along with opium) during the times of the British India[7] and in independent India until the 1980s when sale and consumption of Cannabis was made illegal in the subcontinent.

[14][15] The Naga Sadhus, Aghoris and Tantric Bhairava sects smoke it freely as an integral part of their religious practice.

[20] High quality hashish in India comes from cannabis grown in the mountains, or that is smuggled in from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

[19][21] During hand-harvesting, live cannabis plants' flowering buds (as opposed to dried plants/buds) are rubbed between the palms of the harvesters' hands to make charas.