About increasing illicit cultivation in India's North East to North West. And some of legal cultivation too. India is the only country producing gum opium legally.
Illegal opium cultivation in Himachal Pradesh, India
Warm colours, cold heights. It is a shame to cut em down in the prime of life, but it has to be done. Law says so. However, till 1960 the law had declared these fields and many more like these legal!!
Then in 1960 the Hqrs of Central Board of Narcotics was shifted from Shimla to Gwalior and all these fields were delicensed, but the cultivation continued.
This dramatic and colourful field is one of about a 1000 hectares in Sainj sub division of Kulu.