Hashish is a preparation of cannabis composed of the compressed trichomes collected from the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than other parts of the plant such as the buds or the leaves.

Psychoactive effects vary between types of hashish but are usually the same as those of other cannabis preparations such as marijuana. Hash is prohibited to the same extent as all other forms of cannabis.

Hashish is often a solid or paste-like substance of varying hardness and pliability, and will soften under heat. Its color can vary from green, black, reddish brown, or most commonly light to dark brown. In Afghanistan there is a method of making hash that resembles charas. First, cannabis resin is placed on a large heated mortar, then the resin is threshed with a heavy object. The result is a very gooey, sticky black hash.

It is consumed in much the same way as cannabis buds, used by itself in a billy with tobacco,or a miniature smoking pipes, vaporized, hot knifed, smoked in a bong or bubbler, or smoked in joints mixed with tobacco, cannabis buds or other herbs.

It can also be eaten alone (pure hash is described as having a spicy or peppery flavor) as well as used as an ingredient in food (baked into cookies or cakes, or added to stews and chocolate). Sale of hashish is illegal in most parts of the world; it has been decriminalized to some extent in a few countries, such as the Netherlands.

Hashish may have originated in Northern India which also has a very long social tradition in the production of Hashish which is locally known as Charas. Cannabis sativa subsp. indica cultivated particularly in Kerala, Rajasthan and the Himalayas in India - farms of Manali, Naggar and Upper Himachal Pradesh.

Hashish is traditionally produced in desert conditions. It is traditionally found in a belt extending from North Africa, Egypt to North India and into Central Asia. The primary hash-producing countries are Morocco, Afghanistan, Nepal, Lebanon, India and Egypt.