Weed crisis in Gandhara
In the early 1950s major shifts in the relationships between Almarania and Gandhara resulted in the so-called Weed Crisis, which was a major event in the political history of the country and later served as a trigger for the Gandhari Revolution of 1957 and the subsequent Gandhari invasion of Almarania.
Background
The use of cannabis has always been an important ritual in the life of the Gandhari and especially in their practice of Islam. Cannabis plants were traditionally grown in the region of Ganjah (now Mavrija), which after World War I was largely ceded to neighbouring Almarania. The agreements after the war included Almarania giving 1,800 tons of cannabis every year to Gandhara in return for the loss of Mavrija. However, they were not sticked to every year, because leaders of the both sides frequently denounced the post-WWI agreements. During the Second World War Almarania and Gandhara were allies and Mavrija was handed out for temporary rule to Gandhara, during which time the cannabis market in Gandhara flourished due to the lack of military action in the region.
The crisis (1950-1954)
In 1945 Mavrija was given back to Almarania, and the latter became a communist state under the Almarania Worker's Party. In 1947 all production of cannabis in the country was legally forbidden by the new authority and post-WWI agreements about cannabis shipments to Gandhara were denounced. Gandharan authority tried to grow cannabis in the areas adjacent to Mavrija, but yields could not satisfy the demand. In 1950, a drought wiped out almost all cannabis plants in the area of Bazegha Governorate. The following year protests erupted in Kazmi demanding for the return of Mavrija to Gandhara and the ousting of the Al-Mansur dynasty, which quickly spread all around the country. The protests were heavily supported by the military, which was gaining more and more popularity among the people. After violent clashes throughout 1952 and 1953, the protests died out in early 1954.
Consequences
In 1956 the so-called Oil money distribution crisis sparked another wave of protests throughout Gandhara. These protests, again supported by the military, grew into the 1957 Gandhari revolution and the ousting of Emir Mohamed al-Mansur. The Arab Socialist Union of Gandhara, which took power after the resignation of the Emir, had the regaining of Mavrija as one of the priorities of its agenda, and attacked Almarania just three months after taking power. The subsequent war lasted until 23 April 1963, when an armistice was signed, resulting in no actual gains for both sides. Two more border conflicts ensued (1967-1969 and 1976-1977), also making little change on the map. Finally, an armistice was signed in Tihum in 1984, in which Gandhara recognized Almarania's posession of Mavrija in return for the Novi Brod island and half or the Tomašín and Korvín islands in the Nuran Sea.
View in Gandhara and Almarania
The term "weed crisis" or "cannabis crisis" is ofte used by historians to describe the events in Gandhara in the 1950-1954 period. It is mostly agreed though that it was the sense of patriotism and revisionism over the lost territory and numerous economic problems of Gandhara in the late Al-Mansur period that provoked the protests and the scarceness of cannabis was just the immediate trigger for unrest. The term "weed crisis" is considered very insulting in Gandhara, as it gave sense that the people were fighting just to have the drug and not for the ideal of an unified country.
The Weed Crisis is a controversial topic in Almarania too. It wasn't included in the textbooks until recently because it gave the sense (among with many other historical accounts) that Mavrija was a taken territory, rather than an unseparable part of the Almaranian land. The events in Gandhara in the 1950s and 1960s are still topics not often talked about in the media.