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1 of 15Men in their traditional wool suits sit in the village square in April 2011.Andrea de Franciscis -
2 of 15A field house by a cannabis plantation in Oct. 2013.Andrea de Franciscis -
3 of 15Cannabis plants sit outside a farmer's house in Nov. 2014.Andrea de Franciscis -
4 of 15Children play in the village schoolyard in Dec. 2014.Andrea de Franciscis -
5 of 15A woman and her granddaughter walk back from the cannabis fields in Oct. 2013.Andrea de Franciscis -
6 of 15A shepherd walks his 200-head cattle herd downhill as winter approaches in Oct. 2013.Andrea de Franciscis -
7 of 15Young school children sit inside a classroom during a lesson in Dec. 2014.Andrea de Franciscis -
8 of 15A local woman walks her sheep while weaving wool in Oct. 2011.Andrea de Franciscis -
9 of 15A villager smokes charas in a 'chillum,' or traditional clay pipe, often used by Hindu monks in Dec. 2011.Andrea de Franciscis -
10 of 15A villager walks through a cannabis field in Oct. 2013.Andrea de Franciscis -
11 of 15Villagers gather in the square during a celebration known as a 'mela' in which three different villages come together in April 2013.Andrea de Franciscis -
12 of 15A group of children play near the cannabis fields with bows and arrows made out of cannabis stalks in Oct. 2013.Andrea de Franciscis -
13 of 15Two girls run home during the first snowstorm of the season in Dec. 2014.Andrea de Franciscis -
14 of 15Musicians play at a local wedding in the village square in Dec. 2014.Andrea de Franciscis -
15 of 15Villagers gather around a huge bonfire in front of a temple in the village in Dec. 2011.Andrea de Franciscis
Nestled in the Himalayan foothills at an altitude of 10,000 ft. (3,000 m), entire villages and communities subsist on illegal marijuana production. These villages are far from any paved roads and are so remote that distances are measured in hours of walking.
Across thousands of acres of public and private land, villagers grow cannabis which is then turned into a high-quality resin know as charas. “On the global market, charas is sold as a high quality hashish,” says Italian photographer Andrea de Franciscis, who has been documenting these communities for the past three years. “The farmers who produce the costly resin get very little in return and struggle to survive against always tougher legislation.”
De Franciscis has chosen an anthropological angle to photograph these villagers, with the goal of producing a complete story that also focusses on culture and tradition. “Life is challenging in the mountain,“ he tells TIME. “Women work as much as men, and the feeling is that it’s rather a matriarchal society.”
Cannabis has deep roots in Indian society dating back to as early as 2,000 BCE within the Hindu scriptures. However, since the drug was outlawed in India in 1985 there has been pressure on a national and global scale to curb the cannabis production in the Himalayan valley. But, says de Franciscis, this has only “led to an increase of the price [of charas] on the global market, and has actually worsened the situation of the villagers whom have no real alternative for their livelihood.”
Andrea de Franciscis is a photojournalist based in India and Italy. Follow him on Instagram
Adam Glanzman is a contributor to TIME LightBox. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram
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