KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A provincial government in Nepal has legalized farming and use of marijuana for medical use despite a national ban.
The bill went into effect Monday after it was endorsed by the chief of Gandaki province and allows the farming and medical use of cannabis, said Prabin Poudyal, spokesman for the office of the Chief of Gandaki Province.
Farmers will have to get official permission from the provincial authority and are to be closely monitored.
The provincial law comes despite a national ban on farming, possession and use of marijuana. Anyone possessing marijuana for personal use can be jailed for a month, while distribution and sales are punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment depending on the amount seized.
Gandaki, one of the Himalayan country's seven provinces, is home to popular mountains and hiking trails and the resort city of Pokhara.
Cannabis is native to Nepal and is widely used during festivals, and activists in Nepal have been trying to get the government to change the law to allow it.
Marijuana was once widely embedded in the country's culture and religion.
But in the late 1970s, the country followed other nations in outlawing marijuana, and chased away the hippies who had flocked to the country.
During the annual Shivaratri festival in Nepal in spring, devotees freely smoke joints at the temples of the revered Hindu god Shiva. The authorities usually allow the use during the festival.
FILE- In this March 11, 2021, file photo, a Hindu holy man smokes marijuana in the courtyard of Pashupatinath temple during Shivratri festival in Kathmandu, Nepal. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)
DETROIT (AP) — Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan’s Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, narrowly defeating U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in a victory for the party’s progressive wing in a battleground state.
“In the words of Muhammad Ali, we shook up the world,” El-Sayed told supporters Wednesday morning.
The real test of El-Sayed’s and progressives’ strength will now come in a November matchup against Mike Rogers, a former congressman who ran unopposed for the Republican nomination. The seat is pivotal to Democrats’ chances of flipping the Senate and El-Sayed will face the challenge of uniting a divided Democratic base after a bruising primary.
Stevens called El-Sayed to concede Wednesday, and she issued a statement saying she would back El-Sayed’s candidacy.
“I am proud to offer my support as he takes on Mike Rogers in the general election,” she said.
Stevens added, “This was a thorough and rigorous campaign that brought out the full span of views within the Democratic Party — and that is why we have primaries.”
Curtis Hertel, the chair of Michigan Democratic Party, urged unity ahead of November.
“We have got to work together to take this country back,” Hertel said.
“I can tell you what we need is a fighter,” he added. “Abdul El-Sayed has been a fighter for the people over and over again.”
The Associated Press declared El-Sayed the winner after confirming that after Wednesday morning updates in election returns in Wayne and Oakland counties, two of the state’s largest in the Detroit area in southeastern Michigan, that there were simply not enough votes left to count that would allow Stevens to catch up and overtake him as the leader.
After confidently predicting a win, El-Sayed’s victory was ultimately so narrow that it wasn’t assured until almost all ballots cast statewide were counted. At the time AP declared him the winner, El-Sayed led Stevens by 14,893 votes — a margin of just under 1 percentage point — out of more than 1.5 million ballots counted.
El-Sayed’s win, however slim, represents a significant shift for the Democratic Party; in 2018 he lost the gubernatorial primary to now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by 21 percentage points.
The former health official campaigned on “Medicare for All,” halting military aid to Israel and campaign finance reform. He had support from progressive leaders including Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who framed the race as a grassroots-focused movement and a broader fight against the establishment and big-money spending.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, another progressive leader, said El-Sayed's victory “should be a wake-up call to the Washington Democratic establishment.”
Sen. Gary Peters, the Michigan Democrat whose retirement spurred the contentious primary to replace him, said, “Congratulations to him.” Peters had endorsed Stevens.
Now comes the more difficult challenge for Democrats: uniting the party to defeat Rogers, for whom Republicans have already reserved large sums of money ahead of the general election.
Tuesday evening, El-Sayed’s supporters in Detroit’s Majestic Theatre cheered as the first few batches of results came in, before mellowing. Hours later Stevens’ previously subdued partygoers roared as she narrowed the margin.
“Whatever happens tonight,” El-Sayed told a thinned but still energetic crowd, “we have a responsibility to ensure that we unite, unite to make sure that Mike Rogers never sees the inside of the U.S. Senate.”
Stevens, a four-term congresswoman, focused on manufacturing and the economy. She stressed her past victories in tough races, saying she would be best positioned to beat Rogers.
Stevens benefited from tens of millions of dollars in outside spending, including the largest investment in a race ever from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which supports pro-Israel candidates.
The race will help decide which party controls the chamber in the last two years of President Donald Trump’s term. Those stakes have added heat to the rivalry, with moderates arguing that El-Sayed would have a harder time than Stevens against a Republican in the general election.
Stevens won election to Congress in 2018 after serving as chief of staff to President Barack Obama’s auto task force, which helped oversee the federal rescue of General Motors and Chrysler. Her campaign and allied groups have repeatedly highlighted that experience.
El-Sayed cast himself as the anti-establishment candidate and argued that Democrats need to reject corporate influence and embrace a more progressive agenda.
While the candidate has said he is not a democratic socialist, he found support from some of the group’s members. That included Melat Kiros, who recently beat a longtime incumbent in a Democratic primary for a Denver-based House seat and was at El-Sayed’s watch party. Also there was Hasan Piker, a progressive and controversial influencer online.
The candidates’ differences were clear to some voters.
Kenneth Woodside, 87, of West Bloomfield, said he voted for El-Sayed over Stevens because “the nation is ready for someone who wants to take some more action rather than on the road we are now, which is on the road to an oligarchy and authoritarianism.”
Nessa Fuller, 51, of Birmingham, said she voted for Stevens because she will “fight to get the right things done, and she’ll work with other people, which is really important to me.”
National groups poured unprecedented sums into the race, making it one of the country’s biggest tests of outside spending.
Groups backing Stevens spent more than $50 million, led by more than $30 million from AIPAC and its affiliates.
“We took on a machine,” El-Sayed said.
AIPAC issued a statement on Wednesday saying they would oppose El-Sayed and “his radical anti-Israel agenda” in November’s election.
The organizations' spending ensured Israel remained at the center of the race. While El-Sayed called for ending military aid to Israel, Stevens maintained strong support for the relationship.
Support for Israel is contentious within the Democratic Party. Israel has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the militant group Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in southern Israel in October 2023.
In a heavily Democratic district representing Detroit, the 13th, state Rep. Donavan McKinney defeated Rep. Shri Thanedar. McKinney argued that the city should once again have a Black representative in Congress.
After Thanedar won election in 2022, Detroit had no Black representation in Congress for the first time since the early 1950s.
Associated Press reporters Nathan Ellgren in Washington and Jesse Bedayn in Detroit contributed.
Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, speaks during a primary election night event Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Attendees hold signs for Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., a candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, during a primary election night event Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Former Sen. Debbie Stabenow, left, Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., a candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, center left, and Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., hold hands on stage during a primary election night event Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., a candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, right, hugs an attendee during a primary election night event Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, speaks during a primary election night event Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
