Preface to second draft
The need to create a new version of the document I drafted in 2019 came about, mainly, due to the following reasons:
An increased understanding of the domain in the intervening two years
Further evolution in my thinking from two years ago, where I was earlier of the belief that the cannabis plant must be regulated, to the current thinking that there must be no regulation of the cannabis plant of any kind whatsoever. As a creation of nature, the plant must be treated like any other living being. Any form of regulation is discrimination against the plant and its users. Regulation is required for man-made synthetic substances such as synthetic pharmaceutical medicine and distilled alcohol, not for a natural herb like cannabis which must be treated like any other natural plant.
A need to document the rights of the cannabis plant and its users.
A need to streamline the list of users and their requirements, rather than include all stakeholders.
A need to prepare a more focused list of actions for policy and lawmakers
A desire to make the policy document more focused.
Executive Summary
The cannabis plant, India's much revered plant, said to be the embodiment of the Indian god Siva, was widely used in Indian society from ancient times for recreational, spiritual, nutritional, industrial and medical purposes. Its usage is still widespread through the length and breadth of this country. The status of the plant has, however, seen a gradual change, over the past 150 years, from being restricted in increasing degrees, taxed and regulated, to finally being prohibited outright with the inclusion of the plant in the Narcotic and Psychotropic Drugs Act (NDPS) in 1985. This has, however, not stopped the usage of the plant in society. It remains more or less as widespread as before. But this usage has come at a terrible cost - socially, economically, medically, legally and environmentally.
This document looks to formulate a vision for the plant, provide a brief background, describe some of the costs of the current situation, list the requirements of users, conceptualize a potential solution to the problem including actions for policy maker with phase wise implementation, list some of the benefits, opposition and hurdles involved in the process.
The most important and urgent actions to be taken up immediately are as follows:
Removal of all references to cannabis (in all its forms - bhang, ganja, charas/hashish, THC) from the Narcotic and Psychotropic Drugs Act (NDPS), 1985
Release of all prisoners and undertrials who are in jail or undergoing trial for cannabis related offenses
Expungement of records of all persons related to cannabis offenses
Realignment of judiciary, drug and law enforcement so that cannabis is taken out of the scope of their work.
Target Audience
The target audience for this document includes various sections of society such as policy makers, law makers, law enforcement agencies, economists, sociologists, scientists, the medical community, environmentalists, businesses, media and agriculturalists. Foremost among the target audience is every single member of Indian society who has, willingly or through the fact of being a part of Indian society, some involvement in the past and present of this illustrious plant, and who will hopefully play a significant role in the future of the plant, helping to restore it to its rightful place in nature and society.
Vision
The revival and propagation of the Cannabis plant in India so that:
it is available to all in Indian society, irrespective of caste, creed, sex, economic and social status and, especially, available to the minorities, indigenous peoples, and people classified as the socially and economically backward;
it is once again a part of the economy, as an agricultural crop for farmers, and as raw material for sustainable industries, especially the poorest and most backward persons, who wish to involve in any economic activity utilizing the natural plant and its products;
it is once again a part of the sustainable web of life, forming a part of the natural environment, becoming a key part of the strategy for environmental rejuvenation and combating climate change;
it forms once again the key part of Indian natural medicine as a safe, universal, affordable, accessible remedy. addressing a wide range of diseases, especially for the poorest and the most needy;
all can enjoy the plant without fear of legal action and coercion. especially the poorest, minorities and indigenous peoples, and so that the plant can be protected from indiscriminate and unscientific legal action in the form of extirpation and destruction;
all the varieties of the plant present in India can be revived, protected and propagated to increase their natural biodiversity and to prevent their extinction;
policies can be framed and implemented for the protection of the plant and the protection of the constitutional rights of its users.
Problem Definition
Background
Many visitors to India over the centuries, as travelers or invaders, have recorded the usage of the Cannabis plant across the length and breadth of the country. The plant was an integral part of Indian society from time immemorial, and its usage encompassed all classes of society. The plant had vast medical and religious significance, besides being one of the most popular recreational drugs in Indian society. The plant was used by large proportions of Indian society, primarily by those who engaged in hard physical labour, religious mendicants, the very poor, as well as some sections of the elite classes of society. Farmers cultivated the plant freely, people grew the plant at homes and private gardens, and the plant grew abundantly in public spaces and wild stretches of land. Studies done, as a part of the Indian Hemp Commission's work in 1894-1895, show that the wild ancestral land races of the plant grew mostly in the Himalayan regions, while in pretty much the rest of the country the plant had been cultivated by humans from as long back as we can see. The cannabis plant formed the natural recreational staple of Indian drugs, along with toddy, fermented alcoholic drinks and the natural opium plant. It would be no hollow claim to say that India was the home of cannabis until the 19th century.
The British, when they occupied India, decided to look more closely at the cannabis plant. Initially, it was with the intent of taxing it and controlling its cultivation, so that it formed an additional revenue stream for the government. Gradually, however, the British started regarding cannabis, due to its widespread popularity, very low prices, and ease of access, as a threat to the forms of recreation that brought the British Empire its maximum revenues – opium, tobacco and western alcohol. At the time of setting up a commission in 1893 to study the extent of cannabis usage, the feasibility of controlling it and generating revenue from it, India was an amalgamation of various territories, provinces and states. Some were under British rule, such as the Bengal, Bombay, Madras and Mysore presidencies. Others were either tributary or independent states and were called as such. There were groups of states called the Native States, Feudatory States, Tributary States, Hill States, Central Provinces and Northwestern Provinces. Each of these entities had their own individual approaches to the cannabis plant, predominantly a hands-off approach. The British territories had already, by the 1890s, started tightening control over cannabis through cultivation under license, government warehouses, retail tax, etc. Other regional entities had either similar regulations in place, or the ideal natural, social evolutionary stable state of no controls on the plant. The assorted set of rules in different regions, with regard to cannabis, was believed by the British to be a drain on revenue, especially with the free movement of cannabis between British and non-British territories.
The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission was set up in 1894 by the British Empire with the primary aim of studying the extent of cannabis usage, and to formulate uniform rules for cultivation and usage, so that the government could maximize taxation and revenue from the plant and its derivative products, mainly ganja, charas and bhang. The Commission's report is the earliest known documented study on the usage of the cannabis plant in societies anywhere in the world. It still ranks as one of the most detailed studies ever done and was free from many of the biases of subsequent studies, due to the pervasiveness and normality of cannabis usage at the time. It went on to form the basis for policies regarding cannabis in other British colonies, and eventually played a key part in the formulation of today's global cannabis laws. The Commission reported many findings, including the following:
There existed a huge amount of ignorance within the ruling and administrative classes, who conducted the study, regarding the nature of the cannabis plant and the extent of its usage.
It was found that primary users were from the working classes, including often the poorest sections of society, and religious mendicants. Considering that a significant majority of Indian society consisted, then and even now, of the working classes, the possibility of the extent of usage being very large cannot be ruled out, even though commission pegged it as around 1% of the population.
The plant was widely revered and had religious significance across religious groups, including the Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists and indigenous tribes. Its religious, cultural and social usage went far back in time.
Indian medical practitioners used the cannabis plant for treating a wide range of diseases and the plant formed a key part of traditional Indian medicine, finding mention in a variety of ancient medical texts.
Most people who used the plant grew it at home, or with other crops, shared it or bartered it. It was commercially available in retail outlets, that sold many other things besides cannabis. These retail outlets were present across the country and appear to have existed since ancient times.
The plant was consumed as ganja in the southern and central parts of India, as bhang in the northwestern parts of India and Bengal, and as charas in the Northwestern provinces. Charas was mostly imported from areas beyond the Northwest. Various food delicacies, sweetmeats and drinks were prepared using the plant.
There existed a general ignorance and disinterest among non-users of cannabis who formed the larger part of the population of the country. However, it is said that during festivals almost the entire country consumed the plant as a part of religious traditions, especially in the form of bhang served as a drink.
A majority of the witnesses that the Commission interviewed, especially the more experienced administrators, physicians and persons of social standing, were of the opinion that prohibition and restrictions on the plant were not advisable, given the extent of tradition, usage and religious significance associated with the plant.
Many people highlighted that the cannabis plant was less harmful than opium and western alcohol, two recreational drugs that were actively promoted by the British Empire and which were becoming increasingly popular among the elite classes of society who had close associations with the colonial rulers. There were concerns among knowledgeable sections of society that if the cannabis plant was made inaccessible and unaffordable these more harmful and addictive substances, beside dangerous freely available natural drugs like dhatura, would move in to take the place of cannabis in society.
There was opposition to cannabis among certain groups who sought to show the harms of the plant in society, primarily as a cause of physical illnesses like dysentry, mental illnesses and crime. The Commission studied each of these areas and came to the conclusion that the moderate use of the plant did not cause any of the above stated harms to society, a fact widely corroborated by today's scientific studies in places that have recently legalized cannabis. Excessive use (a term that was mostly subjective) was sometimes associated with the above harms but the percentage of excessive users were found to be a very minuscule fraction of overall users i.e. 5%. Even among excessive users, it was not possible to clearly establish that cannabis was the cause for poor health and not some pre-existing biological, social or environmental factors. In spite of the findings of the Commission contradicting the supposed harms of cannabis, the Commission chose to err on the side of caution, or more likely benefit for the ruling classes, and made the statements that it is possible that excessive usage of the plant could cause physical and mental illnesses.
This note of caution, with regard to a plant that had existed peacefully in Indian society, served to lay the foundation for the subsequent global war on the plant and its users and the unimaginable damage that it unleashed, which continues unabated even today. Erroneous reports regarding the harms of cannabis usage in India were used as evidence to push forward the restriction and prohibition of the cannabis plant in Trinidad, Greece, Egypt in the 19th century and then in Canada and the United States by the 1920s. The US finally prohibited cannabis in the 1930s through the Marihuana Act of 1937. The US used its clout in the United Nations to bring about its prohibition worldwide through the 1961 Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs. This global attack on cannabis was backed in no small measure by the emerging industries that stood to gain from the plant's prohibition, especially the opium, alcohol, paper, pharmaceutical, medical, tobacco and petrochemical industries. India's legal cannabis usage survived on life support till 1985 when the country formally included the plant in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985, which meant that the fate of the plant and its users were completely sealed.
The output of the Hemp Drugs Commission Report of 1894-95 were a set of suggestions and conclusions. It stated that 'Total prohibition of the cultivation of the hemp plant for narcotics, and the manufacture, sale or use of the drugs from it is neither necessary nor expedient in consideration of their ascertained effects, of the prevalence of the habit of using them, of the social and religious feeling on the subject, and of the possibility of its driving the consumers to have recourse to other stimulants or narcotics which may be more deleterious (Chapter XIV, paragraph 553 to 585)'
In spite of the knowledge and evidence that cannabis was an integral part of Indian society, the Commission chose to interfere in personal freedoms through coercive policies with the intent of gaining greater revenue for its sponsors in British government. It made the following recommendations in its Report, knowing fully well that the persons most impacted by this would be the poorest sections of society, the working classes, the religious mendicants and the persons suffering from various illnesses who were dependent on cannabis for recreation and as medicine.:
adequate taxation (Chapter XIV, paragraph 587)
prohibiting cultivation, except under license, and centralizing cultivation (Chapter XIV paragraph 636 and 677)
limiting the number of shops (Chapter XIV paragraph 637)
limiting the extent of legal possession (Chapter XIV, paragraph 689 and 690)
No other rulers or governments had in the past imposed this level of curbs on the popular native intoxicants available to people. Chapter VII of Manusmriti which enumerated the different sources of revenue that the sovereigns of the country taxed did not mention any intoxicants. Even Aurangzeb, the ruler that many Indians rate as the most tyrannical in the country's history, was against curbs on native intoxicants. Aurangzeb's grandson is said to have proposed tax on palm juice, presumably toddy, in Bengal, to which Aurangzeb is said to have replied “Though the taxation of the palm may lead to the collection of revenue, yet it is impossible for me to sanction it. I cannot understand what dishonest mufti declared it legal to do so. You must know that such ill advisors are enemies of this and the next world. You should thank Almighty who has put you in possession of three provinces which are full in wealth, and which fill our coffers with so much revenue, and in which everything is so abundant and cheap. You should know as well that the good-will of the subjects is the only wealth for this world and the next.” (Letter No. 90 mentioned in the Note of Dissent at the end of Vol 1, Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report)
Current Situation
The current situation has gone far beyond the worst case scenarios visualized by both the proponents and opponents of cannabis taxation and prohibition 150 years ago.
Social situation
Economic situation
Poor farmers, who once saw the cannabis plant as an important agricultural crop, now find their cannabis mindlessly destroyed by law enforcement, and find themselves in jail, if they dare to cultivate the crop. The black market, in the meantime, makes huge profits through the illegal cultivation and sale of the plant. The money ends up in the pockets of organized crime, working hand in hand with politicians, who use it to fund bigger and more dangerous ventures like extortion, human trafficking, arms trade and smuggling of heroin. The revenue that should have gone into the pockets of farmers, traders and public coffers now flows into dangerous illegal businesses. According to the National Crime Research Bureau (NCRB), total quantity of cannabis seized in 2017 was 1233707.8 kg ganja, 9871.9 kg bhang, 209.2 kg hashish and 2190.3 kg charas. The report erroneously reports the same substance, cannabis resin, under two heads - charas and hashish, showing the level of ignorance that exists in this country, even among law and drug enforcement. Hardly any legal cannabis business exists in the country today even though the plant is said to have a vast variety of applications, including in the areas of paper, textiles, fibers, construction, bio-degradable plastics, etc. The 1961 Single Convention Treat on Narcotic Substances specifically states that the Treaty does not apply to cannabis for industrial or horticultural purposes, but the Indian government has more or less banned cannabis for all purposes, making it impossible for Indian industries to use this versatile plant.
Countries like China, France and the US use cannabis for a variety of industrial purposes, helping them to contain their carbon footprints and boost their economies. On the other hand, the cost of maintaining the status quo of keeping the plant illegal uses up vast amounts of law enforcement, prison and judiciary resources, not to mention the loss of human capital, in terms of persons facing legal action and confinement. Farmers face tremendous stress due to failed unsustainable crops (like paddy, sugarcane or cotton) , unmanageable loans and increased cost of cultivation. The country goes through a prolonged economic slow down, increasing fiscal deficits and not enough revenue to fund key areas like healthcare, agriculture and education. Many economically and environmentally unsustainable industries, that have thrived in the absence of cannabis, such as the petrochemical and synthetic pharmaceutical industries, threaten the future of the country and planet.
Environmental situation
The cannabis plant is one of the most environmentally sustainable plants with the ability to grow in diverse conditions. Cannabis sequesters more carbon than an equivalent area of tropical forest, while increasing soil fertility and removing toxins from it. Tobacco on the other hand, one of the most popular recreational drugs today, destroys the soil wherever it grows. In the field of agriculture, cannabis requires about 90 liters of water to produce 1 kg of hemp fiber, whereas cotton requires about 1559 liters of water to produce 1kg of cotton. The plant provides valuable nutrition to not just humans but also other animals, birds and insects. In a water stressed world, the cannabis plant is one of the most adaptable plants having evolved over 28 million years through various conditions. It is more suitable for agriculture in water stressed areas, but governments have boosted the growth of unsustainable crops like paddy, wheat, sugarcane and palm oil instead through huge subsidies, minimum support prices and loans, wrecking havoc with the environment. The plant can be used by humans for a number of industrial applications including biodegradable plastic, paper, construction material, textiles, canvas, automobile bodies, to name just a few. As medicine, it can replace numerous synthetic pharmaceutical drugs that damage the environment through manufacture, usage and disposal.
The systematic elimination of cannabis has resulted in the advent of petrochemical based non-biodegradable plastics, synthetic petrochemical based materials for construction, textiles, automobile bodies, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, synthetic pharmaceutical medicine, and the cutting down of vast areas of ancient timber forests to provide wood pulp for paper, to name just a few effects on the environment of prohibiting the plant. All these industries are now the biggest and most powerful in the world. They heavily influence all decisions on cannabis and mount tremendous pressure on the government to keep cannabis prohibited, while funding false information that keeps the public convinced that the plant must remain so. At a time when all options to mitigate climate change must be urgently pursued, India's leaders completely ignore the one plant that could provide the path forward for sustainable development. Instead, they look to embrace and increase the dependency on the very industries that have pushed the world to the brink – fossil fuels, petrochemicals and synthetic pharmaceuticals.
Medical situation
Today, in addition to the diseases that existed 150 years ago, such as malaria, cholera and tuberculosis, there has been a vast surge in lifestyle related diseases such as diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, cancer, etc. There has also been a surge in diseases due to the deteriorating environment such as COPD, liver diseases, renal diseases, etc. 96 lakh people were projected to die due to cancer in 2018, according to Down to Earth magazine. The number of persons with heart disease was 5.45 crore, and with diabetes was 6.5 crore, according to the magazine. While the number of diseases and the persons suffering from them have greatly increased, so too have the medications required for treating these diseases, the cost of medicines and health care. Where once medicines were plant based, affordable, generic, safe and accessible, today to treat a single ailment requires a cocktail of synthetic pharmaceutical medicines that are expensive, synthetic, inaccessible and have dangerous side effects. Most persons in India struggle to find medicine for their ailments and the government expenditure on health care is far below what is required. 'The Union health ministry reveals that medicines are the biggest financial burden on Indian households. Of more than three lakh crore rupees that households spent on health in 2014-15, around 43 per cent of the total out-of-pocket spending (OOP) went in buying medicines.' says Down to Earth Magazine. That would make the money spent on medicines in that year at Rs 1.29 lakh crores.
Many European and North American countries have legalized the medical use of cannabis for their populations. In the US, cannabis can now be prescribed as treatment for more than 30 medical conditions, and has been legalized for medical use in more than 30 states. India however remains completely oblivious to this fact. In a country, where cannabis as plant medicine, could provide affordable, universal and accessible health care to almost the entire population, the government and the public remain sold on the false promises of the synthetic pharmaceutical industry and the medical industry working closely together to eliminate plant medicine. Let alone cannabis, all forms of natural medicine are shunned and scorned. To top it all, the fake pandemic created by the medical and synthetic pharmaceutical industry in 2020, has pushed large numbers of Indians towards dependency on synthetic pharmaceutical drugs. The extent of synthetic pharmaceutical drug usage is so high, and so harmful, that it contributes significantly to all the deaths in the country, but this fact remains hidden under the veil of confusion that these industries and governments have managed to create. They have effectively caused unprecedented damage to public health and environment, while at the same time projecting themselves as saviors, and the public has taken the bait - hook, line and sinker. It is incredible, how the country that considered cannabis as its foremost medicine 150 years ago, now completely refuses to see all the mountains of evidence, past and present.
Legal situation
The country today employs vast amounts of law enforcement resources including police, excise, judiciary and prisons to curb the cannabis market and to enforce prohibition. According to the NCRB, under the Excise Act there appears to be 206,069 cases registered in 2015, 237,026 cases registered in 2016 and 276,168 cases registered in 2017 though it is not clear how many of these were related specifically to cannabis. Under the NDPS Act, 50,796 in 2015, 49,256 in 2016 and 63,800 in 2017. Again its is not clear how many of these were related specifically to cannabis. A total of 9,637 convicts were lodged in various jails of the country for committing offenses under Liquor & Narcotics Drugs-related acts under Special and Local Laws (SLL) as on 31st December, 2017. Of these 164 were under the Prohibition Act, 739 under the Excise Act and 8734 under NDPS Act. A total of 37,135 undertrials were lodged in various jails of the country for committing offenses relating to Liquor & Narcotics Drugs-related acts under Special and Local Laws(SLL) as on 31st December, 2017. It can be argued that these numbers do not differentiate between cannabis related figures and those of alcohol and other psychotropic substances. It can also be argued that the prohibition of cannabis has contributed to the increase in numbers for the other substances so that it will not be completely wrong to use these figures as an indicator of the effects of cannabis prohibition.
In 2019 and 2020, the number of cases under NDPS have risen. The government continues to use cannabis prohibition as a means to target its critics, to extort money and to keep indigenous communities and minorities subdued. The war on cannabis is a war on the people all over the world, including in India. For every case that is documented in the official statistics, there is possibly many times more that go unreported, because the public pays the extortion amount to be free of this despicable legal trap. To think that the plant revered as Siva's herb is prohibited, and its users punished, goes to show the level of degradation of the Indian psyche and its complete capitulation to the manipulative forces that destroy individual freedoms and the planet. Cannabis prohibition is a form of slavery, where the people, especially the poor, minorities, indigenous communities and labouring classes are kept chained to the systems created by the elites, the systems of control over nature through synthetic means, such as petrochemicals and synthetic pharmaceuticals, plying the non-elite classes with harmful addictive alcohol, tobacco and legal-illegal pharmaceutical drugs. Looking at Indian society from a cannabis perspective, India never managed to shake off its rulers. It only replaced its colonial masters with native ones, who continue to faithfully do the bidding of the industries opposed to cannabis created by the colonial rulers, who run the world through these industries today.
Cannabis biodiversity situation
The cannabis plant is known to evolve according to local environmental conditions such as soil, water, sunshine, climate, etc. Having existed in India for hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of years, it is very likely that at one point there may have been hundreds of varieties of the cannabis plant, each with its distinct medicinal and commercial properties. The Hemp Drugs Commission report of 1894 speaks about varieties specific to local geographical regions, each with its own distinct quality, such as Balushar, Rajshahi, Garjhat, Pathar, Mahadev, etc. Over the last 150 years, the prohibition of the plant and the indiscriminate destruction of it means that many precious varieties may have gone extinct. Scientists world wide are today just starting to understand the interactions of the cannabis plant with human and animal physiology, as well as its potential medical and commercial uses. In India, however, we remain clueless as to the varieties of cannabis that exist here, as well as their medical and commercial properties. Research on the plant is virtually non-existent, as is any sort of legal mechanism to protect the different varieties of the plant. The large scale indiscriminate destruction of the plant continues however.
Political situation
There exist no policies for the protection of the cannabis plant and its users. On the other hand, the inclusion of cannabis in the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985 meant that the once revered plant, and its users, face an unprecedented war that has raged for decades now. Where the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report of 1894 very clearly stated that prohibition must not be implemented, rather a system of taxation and controls should be put in place with minimal government intervention thereafter given the tradition, religious significance, medical applications and wide spread usage of the plant, what has happened today is that every attempt has been made to suppress and eliminate the plant and coerce and harass its users. Hardly any policy maker shows the slightest interest in correcting these wrongs, and in formulating policies that would at least bring the situation back to where it was 150 yeas ago, let alone a 1000 years ago, in spite of all the evidence available within the country itself. Globally many of the countries that introduced prohibition are starting to take a relook at their approaches, with Canada and Uruguay having legalized its recreational use, along with 18 US states, at the time of this writing. More US states, and countries like Mexico and South Africa appear poised to legalize its recreational use. More than two dozen countries worldwide, especially in Europe, permit the medical use of cannabis, but India, the land of cannabis, from which the first detailed study on cannabis usage emerged forming the basis for subsequent global policies, continues to slumber due to the apathy of its policy makers and the ignorance of its people, while the country suffers.
Cost of Current Situation
In trying to arrive at the costs that the country is incurring due to the ongoing prohibition of cannabis I have tried to cover a few areas in a very simplistic fashion. The areas, and the costs associated, are by no means comprehensive but more in the nature of a 'thumb in the air' estimate. Some areas, I think, cannot even be costed such as the environmental costs of cannabis prohibition and the rise, in its absence, of petrochemical based industries and synthetic pharmaceutical industries, as well as the costs associated with the loss of cannabis plant diversity due to the indiscriminate extirpation, and possible extinction, of many unknown varieties of the plant. So I will look to mainly associate simplistic economic, social, medical and legal costs that the nation is incurring due to cannabis prohibition. These, as I stated above, are by no means comprehensive.
Social Costs
As social costs, I will take the deaths due to alcohol and tobacco and try to associate costs with them. There are many, many other social costs, including deaths due to the misuse of synthetic pharmaceutical drugs and abuse of illegal synthetic drugs, but I am choosing the two main legal drugs which are currently available in Indian society, and which serve for many as the only option for social and recreational drug use, in the absence of cannabis. Not only has the government prohibited cannabis but it, along with the alcohol and tobacco industry, have sought to actively convert cannabis users to alcohol and tobacco over the last 150 years. To arrive at a social cost, a cost has to be associated with human life in India and a human being has to be viewed as capital i.e. human capital. According to Wikipedia 'The value of life is an economic value used to quantify the benefit of avoiding a fatality.' It varies in different parts of the world ranging from $20,000 in Turkey to more than $9 million in the US. It also varies according to the method used for calculation. Considering that we are closer to Turkey than the US in terms of our value for human life in India, I will arbitrarily fix a cost of $20,000 for an Indian life for want of a better option currently. Translating that into Indian currency at exchange rates roughly equivalent to $1=Rs 80, that would mean the value of an Indian life is 80 x 20,000 = Rs 16,00,000 or Rs. 16 lakhs per life. Considering that 2.6 lakh people die annually due to alcohol and 1 crore people die annually due to tobacco, a total of 1,02,60,000 people die every year from both. That puts a cost of approximately Rs 16.42 lakh crores due to alcohol and tobacco related deaths every year in India. Assuming that, at a conservative estimate, approximately 30% of these deaths could have been prevented had cannabis been available as an alternate recreational drug to alcohol and tobacco, we could attribute Rs 4.93 lakh crores to the social cost of cannabis prohibition.
|
Type of drug |
Deaths per year (in lakhs)* |
Cost of life per life (Rs in lakhs) |
Total Cost (Rs in crores) |
|
Alcohol |
2.6 |
16 |
41600 |
|
Tobacco |
100 |
16 |
1600000 |
|
Total |
102.6 |
|
1641600 |
* based on figures from World Health Organization (WHO)
Economic Costs
Again, this is difficult to arrive at in terms of lost revenue to farmers, wholesalers, retailers and taxation on the raw plant. The lost revenue from industries that could have used the cannabis plant to make various products is unknown. The only figures I have to roughly arrive at the economic cost of prohibition are the amount of cannabis seized by the Excise Department in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 based on National Crime Research Bureau (NCRB) data. The seized cannabis, the overall illegal cannabis available in the black market, and the value associated with it, constitute a cost of prohibition because the revenues from the black market cannabis are not available to the white market economy and the cannabis seized by the Excise Department is allegedly destroyed by the department thus incurring losses to the economy. I will use the available cannabis seizure figures from 2017.
According to the NCRB, total quantity of cannabis seized in 2017 was 1233707.8 kg ganja, 9871.9 kg bhang, 209.2 kg hashish and 2190.3 kg charas. The report seems to erroneously report the same substance under two heads charas and hashish. I am making the assumption that the actual amount of cannabis available in the black market is 10 times the quantity seized and that the Excise Department has managed to seize 10% of the illegal cannabis. In terms of value of seized commodity, it is difficult to fix value as it varies from place to place within India. E.g. A kilogram of ganja may cost Rs 10,000 in certain rural areas but can cost easily as much Rs. 80,000 per kilogram in urban areas like Bengaluru. So I will fix an arbitrary average cost of Rs 40,000 for a kilogram of ganja. A tola or roughly 10 grams of charas or hashish may cost anywhere between Rs 500 in areas where it is produced to Rs 6000 in urban areas. So I will fix an arbitary average cost of Rs 300 for one tola or 10 grams or Rs 3 lakh for a kilogram of hashish or charas. I will currently not consider the cost of bhang.
Using the above figures, the annual economic costs that the country incurs due to ganja and charas/hashish existing in the black market would be as follows:
|
Type of cannabis |
Qnty seized by Excise in 2017 (in Kgs)* |
Actual qnty in kgs in black market (at 10 times the seized qnty) |
Assumed average cost per kg in black market (in Rs) |
Total Cost (Rs in crores) |
|
Ganja |
1233708 |
12337080 |
40000 |
49348.3 |
|
Hashish/charas |
209.2 + 2190.3 = 2399.5 |
23995 |
300000 |
~720 |
|
Total |
|
|
|
~50068 |
* based on NCRB data for 2017
The total economic cost of cannabis prohibition = lost revenue from sales = Rs 50068 crores.
Looking from another perspective, the current US legal cannabis market, including both medical and recreational sales, was approximately $25 billion. Considering that nearly 32 US states have not legalized recreational cannabis yet, and about 20 states are yet to legalize medical cannabis, and also considering the industrial use of cannabis and its benefits to the economy, I would peg the total US market for all forms of cannabis – recreational, medical and industrial, at about $100 billion. Given that India has a population about 4 times the size of the US, that would mean approximately a $400 billion Indian cannabis market. But then the cost of cannabis is very high in the US as compared to India. Considering that cannabis in India costs one-fourth that of the US, we could possibly also arrive at a cannabis market of a similar $100 billion in India, or converting to Indian currency, Rs 80000 crores.
I will select the figure of Rs 80000 crores as the potential economic costs for my consideration here.
Medical Costs
In the United States, and in countries where cannabis has been legalized for medical use, the number of medical conditions for which patients are eligible to use cannabis for treatment number more than 30. These include intractable epilepsy, seizure disorders, severe nausea, severe or chronic pain, cachexia (wasting syndrome), anorexia, hospice or palliative care, terminal illness, sickle cell anemia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Crohn’s disease, Huntington’s disease, neuropathies, damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/Lou Gehrig’s disease, HIV/AIDS, cancer, traumatic brain injury (TBI), chronic renal failure requiring dialysis, spasticity, muscle spasms, cramping, appetite loss, severe vomiting, hepatitis C, glaucoma, pain lasting longer than two weeks, autism, ulcerative colitis, Alzheimer’s disease, neural-tube defects, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, neurodegenerative diseases, dyskinetic and spastic movement disorders, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Tourette’s syndrome, fibromyalgia, arthritis, Lupus, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, spasmodic torticollis (cervical dystonia), inclusion body myositis, anxiety, migraines, muscular dystrophy, chronic pancreatitis, Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome, nail-patella syndrome, Lennox-Gestaut syndrome, Dravet syndrome, spinocerebellar ataxia, syringomyelia, Tarlov cysts, Sjogren’s syndrome, post-concussion syndrome, neurofibromatosis, myasthenia gravis, myoclonus, hydrocephalus, hydromyelia, interstitial cystitis, CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type II), dystonia, fibrous dysplasia, causalgia, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, Arnold-Chiari malformation, epidermolysis bullosa, mitochondrial disease, decompensated cirrhosis, osteogenesis imperfecta, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, post herpetic neuralgia, post laminectomy syndrome with chronic radiculopathy, severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
It could be safely said that at least 25% of the Indian population is likely to affected by at least one of the above conditions, especially diabetes, chronic pain, cancer, terminal illness, PTSD and obesity, and so would have benefited from the availability of cannabis as medicine. If cannabis was permitted to be grown at an individual's home, the cost of medicine in this case would have been zero. As against this scenario, currently to treat a patient with any of the above conditions in a government or private hospital, with pharmaceutical drugs that are often ineffective, expensive and unavailable, raises the cost of treatment dramatically. So medical costs incurred by the country due to the prohibition of cannabis, which is a generic, low cost, safe, accessible medicine and the use, in its absence, of expensive synthetic pharmaceutical drugs and the associated medical treatment needs to be quantified.
We will not go into the costs due to side effects of these synthetic pharmaceutical drugs or the costs to life incurred through death of the huge numbers of persons who either do not receive these pharmaceutical drugs as medicine or who fail to recover in spite of treatment. The cost of medicines vary from lakhs of rupees for diseases like cancer to a few thousand rupees for minor ailments. To arrive at the medical costs that the prohibition of cannabis has resulted in, let us assume that on an average an Indian spends a very low Rs 5000 per year to avail of medicine to treat one of the above medical conditions. With an estimated population in India of 135 crores, 25% of this population would make 33.75 crores. So, if the spend of these 33.75 crore people, at the rate of Rs 5000 per year towards medicines for treating illnesses that could have been treated by home grown or freely distributed cannabis, is considered as medical costs that the country is incurring through cannabis prohibition, the total annual costs in this case would be 33.75 crores x Rs 5000 = Rs 1.69 lakh crores.
Legal Costs
Taking 2017 as the reference year for calculating legal costs incurred by the country due to cannabis prohibition, when we examine the NCRB data we find that 276168 cases were registered under the Excise Act and 63800 cases under the NDPS Act in 2017. It is not clear from the data how many of these cases were related to cannabis and how many were related to other drugs, such as illegal alcohol and other drugs. However considering that the prohibition of cannabis is a likely cause for increase in consumption, as well as cases related to other drugs, and also considering that figures are most likely under-reported in India, I will treat all the above cases as cannabis cases for my analysis.
To associate a cost to a case registered under the Excise or NDPS Act, we need to consider the cost incurred by the Excise and Law Enforcement Departments in using their time and resources to investigate, take action and file the cases. We also need to consider the time and resources of the judiciary, in terms of conducting trial proceedings, with regard to each of the cases. I will roughly assign a total legal cost of Rs 50,000 per legal case to the Indian exchequer considering the time and resources utilized by the excise and law enforcement departments as well as the judiciary. Also in terms of inmates in prison, there was a total of 9637 convicts in prison across the country for committing offenses under Liquor and Drugs related acts under Special and Local Laws (SLL) in 2017 as per the NCRB data. There were 37135 undertrials in prisons across the country under the same laws. A recent report in the media pegged the cost to the exchequer at approximately Rs 1.2 lakh per annum per prisoner held in our prison system. Adding to this the law enforcement and judiciary costs for the trial process which each prisoner would have incurred, the total cost to the country per prisoner can be taken as approximately Rs 2 lakh.
Considering all the above, the total legal costs of cannabis prohibition per annum can be roughly estimated as follows:
Total cases in 2017, including Excise and NDPS cases = 276168 + 63800 = 339968
Total legal costs at Rs 50,000 per case = 339968 x 50000 = 16998400000 or ~ Rs 1699.8 crores
Total number of prisoners, including convicts and undertrials, in prison under the Liquor and Drugs related acts = 9637 + 37135 = 46772
At a cost of Rs 200000 per prisoner per year, the total cost = 46772 x 200000 = 9354400000 or ~ Rs 935.44 crores.
The total cost of judicial cases + prisoners = Rs 1699.8 + Rs 935.44 = Rs 2635.24 crores.
Overall costs summary
Considering the total costs of cannabis prohibition as a sum of social, economic, medical and legal costs = Rs 4.93 lakh crores + Rs 80000 crores + Rs 1.69 lakh crores + Rs 2635.24 crores respectively. This adds up to a total of ~ Rs 7.42 lakh crores annually incurred due to cannabis prohibition.
This does not consider environmental costs and costs due to loss of cannabis varieties due to cannabis prohibition.
Rights of the Cannabis Plant
The definition of cannabis, as specified in Chapter 1, sec 2 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985 is as follows:
“cannabis (hemp)” means— (a) charas, that is, the separated resin, in whatever form, whether crude or purified, obtained from the cannabis plant and also includes concentrated preparation and resin known as hashish oil or liquid hashish; (b) ganja, that is, the flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant (excluding the seeds and leaves when not accompanied by the tops), by whatever name they may be known or designated; and (c) any mixture, with or without any neutral material, of any of the above forms of cannabis or any drink prepared therefrom; (iv) “cannabis plant” means any plant of the genus cannabis;
According to the definition of cannabis in the NDPS Act, which is the same as that in the 1961 Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs from which it is blindly copied, the flowering parts of the cannabis plant and its resin are illegal, whereas the rest of the plant is legal. Is there anything more absurd than this law, which seeks to criminalize nature, saying that a natural plant when it is young, is legal, but when it matures and flowers and starts producing resin it becomes illegal. The equivalent of this in the human world would be to say that a human is legal as a child, but becomes illegal as an adult. The entire world of humans has signed up to and zealously implemented this most absurd law against nature and every nation and the UN strives diligently each year to keep this absurd law in force. There appears to be no person among the decision makers who seems to think there is anything strange about this law. Has there ever been a worse form of discrimination in the world that humans have invented? For more information, please see – The NDPS Act of 1985 from a Cannabis Perspective
Even though the plant cannot speak the human language and communicate its rights, it will be quite obvious for anyone who gives the subject a little thought to agree that the rights of the cannabis plant are the same as that of any living being in nature, no different. The cannabis plant is the most important stakeholder with regard to cannabis policy. This may appear strange to persons who view humans as superior to nature, vested with various rights and freedoms, whereas, in their view, the rest of nature exists to serve humans. However, a proper examination of reality will reveal that all of nature enjoys the same rights and freedoms as humans, and no part of nature can be denied these rights by humans, because humans are a part of nature, a creation of nature and not the other way around.
Right to life – the cannabis plant has as much right to life as any other living being on this planet, having being created by the same forces of nature that created the rest of life on this planet.
Right to equality – the cannabis plant has the same right to equality as all other living beings. It cannot be discriminated against, regulated and prohibited by humans. The bounds of human laws are limited to human creations, such as synthetic substances invented in laboratories. There are numerous regulatory bodies tasked with the regulation of these man-made substances, and that is how it should be, as these deviations from natural evolution need to be assessed to ascertain the threat they pose to nature. Human laws cannot be applied to a plant that has evolved in nature over millions of years. The cannabis plant must be governed by natural laws, like all other forms of life, not human laws. That is the cannabis plant's right to equality.
Right to protection – the cannabis plant must enjoy the same right to protection that all other forms of nature enjoy. Just as when we recognize that a particular form of nature is threatened with extinction by human actions, we extend all forms of protection and strive to revive the natural creation, we must recognize the threat to the cannabis plant from the destructive human policies that we have formulated against it. We must remove the destructive policies and must, instead, formulate new ones that protect the cannabis plant, propagate it and increase its biodiversity. This is no insignificant action, considering that the cannabis plant now offers us one of the foremost strategies to combat catastrophic climate change caused by the synthetic creations of humans.
Right to be a part of the web of life – Just as every other form of life forms intricate connections with other forms of life, consuming some forms to survive and being consumed, in turn, by other life forms for their survival, so too must the cannabis plant be allowed to grow freely in nature, and to be accessible for all the forms of life that wish to consume it.
Rights of the Cannabis User
The question of religious significance of the cannabis plant is conveniently avoided in the entire NDPS Act of 1985. I would call this the great Houdini trick that the formulators of the NDPS performed, along with the complete omission of the word 'bhang' in the Act. It is common knowledge that large parts of the country consume bhang, a drink made from the cannabis leaves, during major festivals like Holi, Diwali and Durga Puja. It is also common knowledge that lakhs of ascetics, fakirs and other religious mendicants regularly consume the cannabis plant as a part of their spiritual traditions and customs. It is common knowledge that Varanasi, revered as the holy city of Shiva, has retail outlets that sell cannabis and its derivatives. Almost the entire country associates the cannabis plant with Shiva, who is revered across the country as one of its most important gods. Not only this, Muslims, particularly of the Sufi sects, Sikhs and Buddhists have been known for centuries to consume cannabis, in preference to alcohol, in keeping with their religious traditions. So such a significant part of Indian religious customs and traditions being forcefully removed constitutes a direct curb on the rights of individuals and religious groups to freely practice their religion. Prohibiting cannabis also infringes on the customs and traditions of many indigenous groups and minorities. Through the NDPS Act, the state directly violates key articles of the Indian Constitution namely Articles 15 and 19, 25.
Article 15.(1) of the Indian Constitution states that "The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them." The prohibition of cannabis is a clear discrimination against the persons who use cannabis and who consider it an essential part of their religion. The NDPS Act discriminates against the religions that the cannabis plant is associated with, which is effectively all religions. If cannabis is illegal as per the NDPS Act, then the Kumbh mela and the existence of Varanasi's cannabis outlets and the groups of religious ascetics who practice their religion through cannabis consumption, perpetuate crimes that must be stopped and punished. Alternately, cannabis must be recognized as inherent to our religious culture and legalized uniformly throughout India. Not having a uniform set of laws when it comes to all citizens of India amounts to discrimination against some and bias towards others. If the NDPS Act must stand with regard to cannabis, then its selective legality among certain sections of society and illegality among others amounts to a violation of Article 15.
Article 19 of the Indian Constitution states that "(1) All citizens shall have the right— (g) to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business." The NDPS Act, by prohibiting the cultivation of cannabis, a plant cultivated for thousands of years in India, forming one of the most important crops, and by prohibiting the consumption of cannabis by those who seek it for religious, recreational and medical purposes as a part of their occupation or way of life, infringes on Article 19. By keeping the highly sustainable cannabis fiber unavailable as an option for industry and trade while many other countries allow it, the state violates Article 19. Moreover, by stating that cannabis can be consumed and cultivated for scientific and/or medical purposes but not providing the provisions and not permitting individuals to do so, it further impinges on this article. This violation is even more stark in the light of worldwide initiatives that have now legalized cannabis for recreation, home growing and medical use in the very same countries that pushed India into creating the NDPS Act and its rules with regard to cannabis.
Article 25.(1) of the Indian Constitution states that "Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion." Considering the role that the cannabis plant plays in Indian religious tradition, its banning goes against Article 25 as well. Cannabis is most often used by its consumers to aid in meditation, to improve concentration and to steady their minds in the pursuit of spiritual goals, as most commonly cited as reasons why holy men of all Indian religions use the herb. Preventing a person from consuming cannabis when he views it as an aid to, and a most important aspect of, his spiritual quest is a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution.
Article 38 of the Indian Constitution states that "(1) The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life. (2) The State shall, in particular, strive to minimise the inequalities in income, and endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations." The NDPS Act goes against this article by going against the social order that existed for the country's entire history from as long back as we can see by prohibiting cannabis. By preventing the poor, the minorities and the indigenous communities from practicing their age-old occupation of cannabis cultivation and engaging in its trade, the Act infringes on Article 38. By selective justice that treats drug use, especially cannabis use, as a crime as serious as, or more serious than, most crimes defined in the IPC, and by constituting a special Act that harms mostly minorities, the poor, indigenous communities, religious mendicants and tribals, the Act infringes on Article 38.
Article 47 in the constitution speaks of the role that the state must play with regard to health as follows: “47. The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.” Every individual has the right to choose the measures to protect her body and mind against any disease or threat to life. She has the complete right to shun harmful substances and choose those substances which she believes is safe for her, whether it be intoxicants, food or medicine. This is entirely the freedom of choice of that individual, as her body constitutes an inviolate space that no other may invade into. Bringing legal action against an individual because she prefers to medicate or recreate with cannabis, rather than use what she perceives to be harmful medicines or intoxicants prescribed by certain vested sections of society, is a violation of this fundamental right that the individual has over his or her own health, body and mind.
The state has largely failed on this ground by removing a highly medicinal plant that is affordable, safe, tested and widely used in Indian society for thousands of years and which formed a key part of the Indian physician's medical chest till the end of the 19th century. The plant also provided healthy, non-addictive and affordable intoxication to large numbers of people. By banning the plant and replacing it with highly toxic and addictive pharmaceutical drugs, tobacco and alcohol, the state has completely failed with regard to Article 47 in its duties to safeguard and protect the health of the Indian citizen. Millions of people are addicted to pharmaceutical and synthetic drugs and many die each year from this. It is the same case with alcohol that has replaced many traditional Indian country liquors and cannabis. And so is the case with tobacco. The situation is so bad that millions die each year due to these synthetic legal and illegal pharmaceutical and recreational drugs, in addition to alcohol and tobacco which the state promotes and supports excessively while keeping cannabis prohibited and punishing its users.
For more information, please see – The NDPS Act of 1985 from a Cannabis Perspective
Users and their Requirements
Users
In proposing a solution to the current problem of cannabis prohibition, let us first look at the various users involved. In my earlier draft, I had included State Cannabis Commissions, Central Cannabis Commissions, Regulators and Legal Stakeholders as a part of a list of stakeholders in the cannabis policy. I now remove these entities from the list, in fact I have replaced the stakeholder list with a list of users of the cannabis plant because the cannabis plant must be treated as any other plant in nature, without any discrimination. All forms of regulation, creating of cannabis specific regulatory bodies and the role of law enforcement must be removed, if the plant and its users are to be free again.
Consumer – the most important user is the cannabis consumer, who has been deprived of the plant due to the excessive and discriminatory policies of cannabis prohibition. The consumer is any Indian citizen who wishes to consume cannabis in the form of ganja, charas or bhang, as well as make or use any product derived from the plant including food, beverages, industrial products and services.
Farmer – the cannabis farmer who cultivates the plant either exclusively or in addition to other crops
Wholesale Vendor – who buys the cultivated cannabis produce from the farmer and packages, stores, processes, transports and sells the produce to retailers
Retailer – buys the produce from the whole sale vendor, or farmer, and sells it to the consumer
Businesses – use the cannabis plant and its derivatives to make various products and services
Indigenous Communities – possessors of traditional varieties of cannabis and knowledge of its cultivation. Also, the most harassed due to the prohibition of cannabis
Scientific Community – research, explore and implement the usage of cannabis for natural medicine, industrial applications and for further understanding the plant
Requirements of the Consumer
Ability to grow any quantity of cannabis at home for personal consumption
Ability to share any quantity of cannabis with whosoever desired through mutual consent.
Ability to access cannabis, irrespective of the geographical location of the consumer, age gender, social or economic demographic
Ability to access cannabis of good quality, grown in a natural organic manner
Ability to procure cannabis at no cost or, in the worst case, at an affordable price. This price must be something that the poorest individual in the country can afford i.e. it must be free for the poorest person.
Protection from legal harassment for growing, possession, sharing and consumption
Ability to possess sufficient quantities of cannabis for personal use
Ability to consume cannabis in private
Availability of designated social spaces for consumption of cannabis
Ability to consume cannabis in places wherever tobacco consumption is permitted.
Ability to use cannabis in whatsoever fashion a consumer chooses, including making of cannabis based products for personal external or internal consumption
Release from prison of all persons who have been imprisoned, or are under trial for cannabis growing, sharing, consumption or possession.
Expungement of criminal records of all persons who have been jailed for cannabis growing, sharing, consumption or possession.
Requirements of the Farmer
Ability to grow cannabis as an additional crop
No restrictions on the quantity of cannabis grown
No restrictions in terms of licenses, duties and regulations for the growing of cannabis crop
Guidelines and knowledge of organic cultivation of cannabis, without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and for the disposal of by products following environmental standards
Availability of seeds for wide varieties of cannabis plants
Freedom to experiment with various varieties of cannabis plants and to create new hybrid varieties if required
Ability to sell produce to wholesale and retail vendors
Ability to possess large quantities of cannabis as a harvest of cultivation
Availability of banking and crop protection insurance for cannabis plant just as for other crops
Protection from harassment by law and drug enforcement agencies for cannabis cultivation
Protection from big businesses and patents with regard to cannabis cultivation, and prevention of unfair practices in the cannabis industry, especially by big businesses that aim to make profits and capture market at the expense of poor farmers and consumers.
Ability to form farmer cooperatives to collectively negotiate prices and sell cannabis to whosoever the farmer wishes
Release from prison of all farmers who have been imprisoned for cannabis cultivation, sale or possession.
Expungement of criminal records of all farmers who have been jailed for cannabis cultivation, sale or possession.
Requirements of the Wholesaler
No license requirements to deal in cannabis at wholesale quantities
Freedom to negotiate with any farmer or farmer's cooperative for procurement of cannabis crop
No cap on quantity of cannabis that can be procured
No cap on number of farmers from whom cannabis crop can be procured
Reasonable amount to be paid as government duty per kilogram of cannabis crop purchased from farmer, in line with the taxes for other crops.
Ability to construct, use, rent out or hire warehouses for storage of cannabis crop, just like any other crop.
Ability to transport cannabis crop from farm to warehouses, as well as from warehouse to retailers, without any additional transport duties across states within India, just like any other crop
Ability to do business with cannabis produce without harassment from law enforcement, like any other crop
Guidelines for packaging, storage and transport of cannabis
Release from prison of all vendors who have been imprisoned solely for cannabis possession or sales
Expungement of criminal records of all vendors who have been jailed solely for cannabis possession or sales.
Requirements of the Retailer
Freedom for any person to sell cannabis in line with the current norms that exist for selling any farm produce. This means that even the poorest person must be able to sell his produce, be it in a push cart or as a pavement vendor. The ease of selling cannabis must be no different from the ease of selling vegetables or any other farm produce. This is especially important, as the persons who must benefit on priority from cannabis sales must be the poorest farmer or individual who sees cannabis sales as a way out of poverty or to supplement one's income. The benefit of cannabis sales must go to the poorest and weakest sections of society, not the high end retailers and the rich who have been instrumental in cannabis prohibition and so responsible for the dismal state of the weaker sections of society.
No license for selling cannabis
Retail tax for cannabis in line with other commodities in the market
Freedom for any existing retailer to include cannabis as an additional commodity for sale
Freedom to negotiate cannabis prices with wholesaler
Freedom to procure cannabis from any wholesaler
Freedom to procure cannabis from as many wholesalers as possible
Freedom to procure cannabis directly from the farmer or from farmer cooperatives.
Freedom for farmer to sell directly to consumer
Protection from law enforcement action and parties opposed to cannabis
No additional duties to be paid to government besides the goods tax on cannabis sales
Freedom to set up cannabis retail anywhere that the retailer wishes, without zoning and location constraints
Release from prison of all vendors who have been imprisoned solely for cannabis possession or sales
Expungement of criminal records of all vendors who have been jailed solely for cannabis possession or sales.
Requirements of Businesses
Ability to use cannabis in the creation of various products and services
Ease of setting up and running a cannabis business
Support from government and various other sources for establishing and running cannabis businesses.
Promotion of cannabis based businesses to enable them to come up to speed after many years of prohibition
Priority non-discriminatory support to cannabis businesses set up by minorities, indigenous communities, economically challenged communities, and those who have suffered the most through the prohibition of cannabis
Support for research into potential business applications of cannabis
Support for cannabis based tourism, social consumption areas, services, etc.
Ability to import and export cannabis internationally
Ability for interstate trade of cannabis
Non-discriminatory support for cannabis businesses, including banking, insurance, laws and funding
Protection of small cannabis businesses from predatory moves and monopoly by big businesses.
Requirements of Indigenous Communities
Promotion and support for the cultivation of indigenous varieties of cannabis
Financial support from government for the cultivation of cannabis.
Preference given to indigenous communities for setting up cannabis retail and other cannabis businesses
Leveraging the knowledge possessed by indigenous communities in the cultivation of cannabis
Protection of the various indigenous varieties of cannabis that are in the possession of these communities as well as the research into, revival and propagation of these varieties.
Defining of cannabis policies at the state and national level specific to indigenous communities who have suffered the most through cannabis prohibition and the associated law enforcement action.
Release from prison of all indigenous persons who have been imprisoned for their association with cannabis
Expungement of criminal records of indigenous persons who have been jailed for cannabis related activities
Protection of indigenous communities engaged in cannabis activities from the action of law enforcement and big businesses
Requirements of Scientific Associations
Ability to research cannabis for the treatment of various medical conditions
Ability to prescribe cannabis for treatment of various ailments
Access to cannabis for research and medical treatment
Inclusion of cannabis in medical education and treatment
Protection of medical community from synthetic pharmaceutical companies for the use of cannabis as medicine
Research into potential business and industrial applications of cannabis
Research into biology of cannabis
Research into cannabis interactions with human and animal physiology
Research into evolution of cannabis
Research into cannabis as an agricultural crop
Research into cannabis as a strategy for mitigating the destruction of environment caused by petrochemical, fossil fuel, synthetic pharmaceutical, chemical fertilizer and pesticide, tobacco, aerated beverages, fast food, wellness, medical, textile, construction, paper, agricultural (paddy, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, etc) industry. In sum, research into the replacement of as many environmentally unsustainable industries and products with sustainable cannabis products.
Proposed Solution
The proposed solution needs to be implemented by lawmakers and policy makers. They must implement the following measures, at a minimum, and look to clear all obstacles that prevent cannabis from returning back into the mainstream world. This calls for changes to laws, as well as changes in industries, across the board. While policy makers and law makers must establish the necessary policies and remove the obstacles in the way, decision makers at all levels in society and industry must work to integrate cannabis as much as possible into their functioning, products and services. Only if the changes are pervasive at all levels, including the re-educating of society with regard to cannabis, will positive changes happen before it is too late for the people of this earth. Many of these changes are urgent, and long overdue, so they must take precedence over everything else. There is an urgent need for civil society to wake up to the fact that cannabis represents one of the most potent ways to heal human society, the environment and the planet. In an increasingly dangerous world, we have to embrace cannabis as one of the mitigation mechanisms to global destruction. It is time to embrace all possible solutions, and even that may not be enough. I cannot stress enough on the urgency of this in a world that has been crippled by the damaging actions of all those opposed to cannabis including governments, the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry, the medical and synthetic pharmaceutical industry, the construction industry, the paper industry, textile industry, agricultural industry and many more. We have strayed very deep into the world of synthetics that destroy the natural world, including humans, and cannabis may literally be the last hope for humanity and countless other life forms that exist on the planet today. The single act of removing all references to cannabis, in all its forms, from the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985 will itself go a very long way. This one change alone clears the way for all the other changes to take place. In effect, change must happen to cannabis related laws so as to legalize cannabis cultivation, consumption, possession and businesses so that the plant enjoys all the freedoms that other commodities enjoy.
Urgent actions for lawmakers and policy makers
Complete removal of all references from the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985 of cannabis in all its forms - ganja, charas/hashish, bhang and all products made from the cannabis plant
Removal of all laws that prevent the creation and implementation of policies aimed at bringing cannabis back into the mainstream, including laws regarding cannabis cultivation, consumption, possession and businesses
Freedom for any person to sell cannabis in line with the current norms that exist for selling any farm produce. This means that even the poorest person must be able to sell his produce, be it in a push cart or as a pavement vendor. The ease of selling cannabis must be no different from the ease of selling vegetables or any other farm produce. This is especially important, as the persons who must benefit on priority from cannabis sales must be the poorest farmer or individual who sees cannabis sales as a way out of poverty or to supplement one's income. The benefit of cannabis sales must go to the poorest and weakest sections of society, not the high end retailers and the rich who have been instrumental in cannabis prohibition and so responsible for the dismal state of the weaker sections of society.
Formulation of policies for the release of all persons in prison and undertrials for cannabis related activities. Expungement of all cannabis related criminal records.
Formulation of policies for the realignment of law enforcement and excise functions so that cannabis related activities are now considered as out of scope for these agencies
Formulation of policies for the realignment of judiciary so that cannabis related cases are not brought to trial
Formulation of guidelines for organic cultivation of cannabis, without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and for the disposal of by products following environmental standards
Formulation of policies to protect small farmers and businesses from big businesses and patents with regard to cannabis cultivation and prevention of unfair practices that aim to make profits and capture market at the expense of poor farmers and consumers.
Formulation of policies that protect the cannabis plant and promote its biodiversity, especially of indigenous varieties.
Setting up of seed banks with state and national level government support and encouragement for farmers for the propagation of as many varieties of cannabis as possible through agriculture ministries
Promotion, encouragement and support for all cannabis related businesses with the integration of industry, research, investment and startup ecosystems. Special emphasis on all ecofriendly sustainable businesses.
Formulation of policies regarding interstate and international trade of cannabis.
Policies for priority non-discriminatory support to cannabis businesses set up by minorities, indigenous communities, economically challenged communities, and those who have suffered the most through the prohibition of cannabis. This includes banking, insurance, laws and funding
Policies for supporting research into potential business applications of cannabis
Policies for supporting cannabis based tourism, social consumption areas, services, etc.
Policies for integrating cannabis as natural medicine in the field of health care to make it universally accessible and affordable
Policies for the scientific research of the cannabis plant, its biology, history and uses
Policies for ensuring that the retail price of cannabis is such that it is affordable for all sections of society especially the poorest and the ones who need it the most medically
Special priority given to cannabis businesses that involve indigenous communities, minorities, economically challenged individuals
Setting up and promotion of cannabis tourism
Encouragement of scientific research into cannabis and its applications across various industries
Protection and support to indigenous communities for the cultivation of cannabis
Protection and propagation of the knowledge possessed by indigenous communities regarding the cultivation of cannabis
Protection of the various indigenous varieties of cannabis that are in the possession of these communities as well as the research into, revival and propagation of these varieties.
Phasewise Solution Design and Development
I propose the solution design, development and implementation to be executed in three phases:
Phase 1 involves the removal of curbs and modification of laws which affect the most number of individuals and their right to freedom. This should be immediately taken up as it is the biggest hurdle and its removal has the maximum impact.
Phase 2 involves the definition of policies and guidelines for the future cannabis industry. It should be commenced as soon as possible but may take a longer time frame than phase 1 to design, develop and implement. It involves coordination among multiple stakeholders and will form the basis for the future.
Phase 3 involves the actual business side of the cannabis industry and commercial aspects of it. It should build on phase 1 and 2 and will be a long term, ongoing phase.
In addition to these three phases, continuous monitoring and evaluation, as well as communication and education, must happen. These activities must commence immediately and be ever present.
Phase 1 Changing Existing Laws regarding cannabis
Complete removal of all references from the NDPS Act of 1985 of cannabis in all its forms - ganja, charas/hashish, bhang, THC and all products made from the cannabis plant. Any other laws that specifically deal with cannabis, or mention cannabis, must also be changed so that cannabis is taken out of scope. This will free up the most important areas such as home growing, cultivation, possession, sale and use of cannabis for multiple purposes across the board. Along with the changes to the laws, all persons who have been imprisoned or stand trial for any cannabis related activity must be released. All cannabis related criminal records of every person must be expunged. Law enforcement, drug enforcement and judiciary must be re-aligned so that cannabis is no longer within their scope of responsibility and functioning.
Phase 2 Policy Definition
Identifying and formulating cannabis policies should be driven by law makers. Policy making should relate to agriculture, industry, laws, medicine, recreation and society. The emphasis of these policies must be the well being of the poorest sections of society, the minority groups, indigenous peoples, the elderly, the youth and the medically ill. The policies need to have a grassroots level ground up approach rather than being set up for the benefit and protection of big businesses. The emphasis must be on environmentally and economically sustainable practices. The emphasis must also be on providing for the needs of the people of this country before considering the needs of the international community, especially the developed nations. The developed nations now have a huge appetite for cannabis due to the scarcity in their own countries. They also have global big businesses in place that are looking to move aggressively and secure cannabis produce for their own business needs. Hence the protection of the local Indian farmer and consumer is of key importance in the process of policy formulation. Emphasis must also be on the safety of consumers and cannabis produce must be quality checked by regulatory bodies such as FSSAI. These bodies can adopt the well defined standards of US test labs and regulators that now exist to ensure the quality of cannabis. Public education must also form a key part of policy making, especially youth, adult and medical education that is now buried in false propaganda regarding the cannabis plant. Sufficient material exists in all these areas in places where legalization has taken place.
Phase 3 Commercial Implementation
Once the laws have been changed, curbs have been removed, policies have been defined and set in place, businesses should be encouraged to get involved in the cannabis industry. Industrial and medical research into cannabis must be promoted and start ups and other businesses involving cannabis must be set up to stimulate the Indian business, industrial and economic scenarios. The US is seeing a vibrant cannabis industry that integrates with the length and breadth of traditional businesses, as well as the emergence of a whole set of startups involving cannabis. International trade in cannabis, its related products and services, as well as cannabis tourism, can provide a valuable boost to the sluggish Indian economy as the world wakes up once again to the highs of the cannabis industry. The greater the engagement with cannabis by industry, the better the chances of mitigating the harms of climate change and replacing unsustainable industries with sustainable cannabis based industries. Considering the state of the planet today, one would think that it is critical that Phase 3 implementation start as soon as possible.
I would think that the entire cycle of phase wise implementation should take no longer than six months, given the fragile state of affairs today. I would also strongly recommend that we begin implementation immediately, without any delay.
Monitoring and Evaluation
This should be a continuous part of all phases of solution implementation. Surveys and studies to gauge public opinion, as well as public feedback, consultation and evaluation of effectiveness of various policies and measures must be carried out periodically and continuously. Various parameters for monitoring and evaluation must be set up at the beginning. These should focus on achieving the vision laid out, the measures that need to be monitored and the outcomes that need to be achieved towards realizing the vision. At a minimum the outcomes and measures should contain social, economic, medical, legal, environmental and political outcomes and measures. These should form the basis for all policy formulation, monitoring and evaluation.
Communication and Education
Since the proposed solution involves a major social transformation, and change to current systems, it needs to be accompanied by effective and widespread communication, and education of all sections of society. The many decades of propaganda against cannabis, the elimination of information and literature regarding cannabis, and the making of cannabis taboo in society has meant that there is widespread ignorance and misinformation regarding the plant and its consumers. This needs to now be corrected and scientific information needs to be disseminated. Social mobilization through various social organizations, behavioral change communication and the usage of modern communication and education technologies, like social media, needs to be leveraged in addition to traditional channels of communication and education, such as media. Workplace safety and implication of cannabis legalization should be a key part of communication and education related to cannabis legalization. Content for all these areas have been created, and exist, in places where cannabis has already been legalized especially in US States and Canada. We are lucky to be living in the era of internet, social media and smartphone based technologies so these can be great aids to rapid dissemination of accurate information and content. Governments at the national, state and local levels as well as social, medical, scientific and industrial bodies need to drive this communication and education about the plant, the evils of prohibition, the damage caused to the world as a result of it, and the significance and benefits of cannabis legalization.
Communication and education regarding cannabis, the myths and propaganda, the benefits of the plant, its uses,etc., can be brought about in a relatively short time. If anybody doubts this, one needs look no further than the way in which the pseudo-pandemic Covid has been communicated and has secured buy-in from all sections of society in a very short time frame. This has been possible through the concerted efforts of policy makers, experts, media, government and civil society. Even though, in the case of Covid, the communication and education was an effort to bamboozle the public, and for vested interests such as the petrochemical, synthetic pharmaceutical and medical industry to reap huge profits with government support, we know that it is possible that if we collectively put our minds to it, any information, true or false, can bring about universal change of perception and behaviour. Let us, for once, use these tools of communication and education to bring about significant positive change to the world we live in, instead of using it to help the rich get richer at the cost of everybody else, including the planet.
Strategic Priority Areas
Strategic priority areas that need to be given immediate attention are as follows:
Phase 1 which involves removing the curbs and restrictions as well as the changing of laws that are the main source of harassment to consumers and farmers, as well as the basis for the continuing destruction of the plant, and the misinformation in society. Part of this strategic priority area is the immediate assessment of the steps to be taken for changing cannabis laws, the implications of the same both in terms of national and international policies, and the carrying out of these changes to laws without further delay, so that consumers and small farmers can immediately benefit from the lifting of prohibition of the cannabis plant and the restoration of their fundamental right to freedom. This is also the topmost strategic priority, as it will provide a boost for the protection and revival of the cannabis plant. I
Monitoring and evaluation of the current state of cannabis in the country, including extent of usage, nature of black market, extent of cultivation, varieties of cannabis that exists, status and condition of persons who are in prison or undergoing judicial trial because of cannabis, public opinion on cannabis and implications of removing prohibition is another strategic priority area. This is an ongoing activity but the initial exercise will help to understand where we currently stand and the progress that needs to be made.
Communication and education must start immediately in parallel with the above two strategic priority areas. Media, government, social, scientific, economic and medical bodies must start the process of re-education of society. The current curbs to the channels and literature of communication must be removed on priority. This is as strategically important as the above two areas.
Benefits of Proposed Solution
In the case of cannabis there should really be no necessity to elaborate the benefits of legalizing the plant and removing its prohibition in India. Just the facts that the cannabis plant was used widely in India in the past from as long back as we can remember, the religious significance of the plant across religions, the widespread usage of cannabis as universal natural medicine across India in the past, the existence of the plant in nature for nearly 28 million years prior to the advent of modern man, as well as the plant being the most popular recreational drug for vast numbers of Indians, especially the working classes, with an extremely low or negligible harm profile, should be more than sufficient justification for its legalization.
Yet a species that believes that it decides who should exist in nature and who should not, and on the basis of this belief has gone to the absurd extreme of banning a creation of nature, is likely to pay attention only if a situation is monetized and the monetary benefits of every action emphasized. So I will try to show some monetary benefits of removing the prohibition of cannabis in India. This is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg and based on very high level estimates. Some of the benefits cannot be quantified monetarily and may be too priceless to attach a monetary figure to. E.g. What would be the monetary value of hemp based biodegradable plastic replacing all the petrochemical based non-biodegradable plastic in use in India today? This and many other such benefits are beyond my means to currently put a value to. I have listed ad hoc benefits in other areas such as my blog – https:\\ravingkoshy.blogspot.com. Also, various scientific and economic studies have detailed benefits of cannabis legalization in leading media and scientific publications. The legalization of cannabis in other parts of the world, specifically Canada and numerous US states, also provides evidence of its benefits. Humans are only now starting to discover the applications and benefits of cannabis and they are already mind boggling.
Some of the immediate benefits I see are as follows:
As affordable, accessible, versatile, natural medicine for universal healthcare
Cannabis was used in India in the past as natural medicine to treat a wide range of diseases. It was even termed the most important medicine in the Indian medicine cabinet by British physicians who discovered its use in India as medicine in the 19th century. The Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-1895 states - “Cannabis indica must be looked upon as one of the most important drugs of Indian Materia Medica.'” In the US, cannabis has been included as a treatment option for a wide range of illnesses which number more than 30 including diseases like cancer, chronic pain, diabetes, PTSD, epilepsy, etc. Many Western countries, like Germany which is the biggest medical cannabis market in Europe, are also using cannabis as medicine in a big way. In India, where the burden of health care is immense and where the health care system is dismal, the re-introduction of cannabis as versatile, safe and affordable natural medicine would place it within the reach of every single Indian, especially if homegrowing of the plant is permitted. This would have the effect of introducing truly universal healthcare, at almost no cost to the exchequer and the individual, for nearly the entire Indian population. The current dependency on China for nearly $150 billion worth of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can be significantly reduced if cannabis is adopted in the field of medicine. For more information please see – Cannabis as Medicine, Cannabis meets the requirements of universal medicine, 19th Century usage of cannabis in treatment of infectious diseases, 19th Century usage of cannabis as medicine by Indian physicians and References to medicinal cannabis in ancient texts
As the backbone for sustainable economics
The cannabis industry was one of the leading job provides in the US in 2020, contributing approximately 321,000 jobs, more than most other industries. Cannabis was declared an essential service, along with food and medicine, during the Covid pandemic in 2020, in many US states that have legalized cannabis.
In the US, a country that is 1/4th the size of India in terms of population, the projected size of the cannabis industry by 2025 is approximately $25 billion, according to sources such as New Frontier Data. In a country like India, using a simple math it could be $100 billion or Rs 7 lakh crores, but that is not considering the potential for a vast number of cannabis related businesses which could be unique to the Indian market, as well as the potential for export to other countries. India is after all the homeland of cannabis. Cannabis was ubiquitous in Indian society, until about 150 years ago, being used for nutrition, medicine, recreation and a wide variety of industrial applications . Being one of the most sustainable forms of economics, the plant has the potential to become the backbone of India's sustainable economic strategy in the coming years.
Looking at it from another perspective, the Indian cannabis market is currently a black market with all revenues flowing into the hands of persons who engage in many other criminal activities besides the illegal trade of cannabis. The proceeds from cannabis funds arms trade, heroin and methamphetamine trade, human trafficking, extortion, political campaigns, etc. According to Excise data for 2017 from NCRB, cannabis with an estimated market value of around Rs 3,500 crores was seized. Even in places like Canada where cannabis has been legalized, the black market is said to be 10 times the legal market. Using that yardstick, we could be easily talking about a Rs 35,000 crore plus black market for cannabis in India. With legalization and the removal of curbs for doing business in cannabis, I am of the belief that the legal cannabis market could easily grow up to 10 times that of the black market or possibly Rs 3.5 lakh crores.
Considering the costs incurred through cannabis prohibition in a previous section, which I estimated at approximately Rs 7.42 lakh crores, and the above estimates of industry size based on the US cannabis market growth projections, it may not be a pipe dream to say that with the legalization of cannabis, the growth of the Indian cannabis market and the resulting reduction in cost of prohibition, we are talking about easily an overall benefit to India, annually, of more than Rs 12 lakh crores.
For more information, please see – The Economics of Cannabis and The Business of Cannabis
As a strategy to combat climate change
Cannabis is said to have numerous industrial applications ranging from textiles, automobile bodies, biodegradable plastics, paper, hemp-based capacitors, sustainable construction material, medicine, wellness products, food and beverages, fibers, animal feed, to name just a few applications. If the cannabis plant is explored and embraced as a potent industrial material which is sustainable and renewable, it is a significant step in the direction of reducing our carbon footprint, combating climate change and environmental destruction. It can significantly replace the harmful and unsustainable products created by today's petrochemical, fossil fuel, synthetic pharmaceutical and medical industries. Cannabis as an agricultural crop can bring in sustainability to agriculture, improve soil health, and reduce water and chemical fertilizer usage. It can replace environmentally damaging unsustainable crops like paddy, wheat, sugarcane and cotton. Cannabis can sequester as much carbon as an equivalent area of tropical forests. The legalization of cannabis can provide valuable income for forest communities, further strengthening their roles as guardians of the forest. For more information, please see – Cannabis and the Environment and Industrial Applications of Cannabis.
As a safe recreational drug
With legalization of cannabis, including its homegrowing, the plant will once again be available as a safe recreational drug for Indians. This would prove to be a very effective harm reduction mechanism available for Indian society, providing an alternative to the deadly legal drugs alcohol and tobacco, as well as the numerous legal and illegal synthetic drugs available such as heroin, methamphetamine and synthetic pharmaceutical drugs. Considering that 1 crore 2.6 lakh people die every year due to alcohol and tobacco alone and that numerous others are affected in various ways due to diseases as a result of these extremely harmful legal and illegal drugs that have taken the place of cannabis, it should be very obvious that cannabis as a legal recreational drug will be vastly beneficial for the physical and mental well being of Indian society. Currently the very situation that many experts in the past feared would happen if cannabis was curbed and prohibited in India has happened, and that too in a more aggressive way than ever imagined. Yet the government and policy makers still continue to promote tobacco, alcohol and legal and illegal synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, while ignoring cannabis, in spite of all the evidence emerging world wide. For more information, please see – Cannabis for recreational purposes , The social and religious use of cannabis and Cannabis and harm reduction
As an additional agricultural crop for farmers
The availability of cannabis as an additional cash crop for Indian farmers, the majority of whom are poor small scale farmers, will be a huge boon. Cannabis can grow in many diverse conditions and is known to be especially suitable in water stressed situations, requiring just a few months to reach maturity. The price that cannabis could get the Indian farmer in the market could be a way out from the burden of loans, failed crops, climate change and the increasing number of farmer suicides. This would provide a sustainable way out for the Indian small scale farmer. Cannabis as an agricultural crop would go a long way in reducing the unsustainable cultivation of rice, wheat, cotton and sugarcane, to name just a few, that have been subsidized and promoted to such a large extent in the country today that they are a death trap for all, including the farmer and the environment. For more information please see – Cannabis as an agricultural crop
To improve the efficiency of law enforcement
Keeping cannabis illegal and the cost of enforcing prohibition means that precious law enforcement resources are diverted and wasted on victimless crime, instead of focusing on much more critical areas such as violent crime, financial fraud, environmental crime, etc. Law enforcement uses cannabis statistics to bloat performance data while on-ground effectiveness remains dismal. Also most persons who are victims of cannabis related legal action are very poor farmers, minorities, indigenous communities and youth. The unjust experience with the legal system for growing a medicinal plant is likely to turn these victims into hardened criminals and anti-social elements. In the decades since the restrictions and curbs on cannabis began, the number of people who have suffered through legal action has been too many. Completely legalizing cannabis will free law enforcement and the judiciary from a significant amount of work load that it currently faces. The black market has grown increasingly sophisticated, dealing in many dangerous things while law and drug enforcement waste resources by trying to curb cannabis trade. For more information, please see – The Legality of Cannabis , Cannabis and Law Enforcement, Cannabis and the Black Market, Cannabis and Crime and Cannabis Convictions and Imprisonment
To protect cannabis biodiversity
The varieties of cannabis that exist in India are surely numerous given the vast geographical variations across the country. Most of these Indian cannabis varieties are natural, sun grown cannabis with minimal human intervention in their breeding unlike in the West where breeding cannabis plants under artificial conditions such as artificial lighting, excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers, etc. has led to the survival of varieties with high psychotropic content, often at the cost of other potentially medicinal cannabis compounds such as cannabidiol. The natural varieties of cannabis in India hold promise of vast medicinal and industrial benefits. For more information please see – Cannabis Biology and The History of Cannabis
As food for the food chain
The revival of cannabis across the country not only benefits humans but also many species of animals, birds and insects, who get valuable nutrition and medical benefits from the plant. The plant has been seen to help bee populations survive adverse climate changes to further pollination. It is also increasingly an important source of animal nutrition as animal feed. For more information please see – Cannabis and the Food Industry, Cannabis Beverages, Cannabis and Cooking and Cannabis for nutrition and addressing diseases in animals
As a unifying factor for society
Cannabis is used by all sections of society, be it the rich or the poor. Cannabis is also used by all classes of society. Cannabis, before it was prohibited, was integral to nearly all religions in India. Cannabis was used for spiritual purposes by individuals across the length and breadth of the country. Legalizing cannabis will make available a common ground on which the entire nation can unite, taking pride in one of India's most ancient, healthy and natural traditions, paving the way for unity in diversity in a nation increasingly divided on the basis of religion, economic status and a myriad of other divisive factors created by unscrupulous politicians and individuals. For more information, please see - Cannabis for recreational purposes , The social and religious use of cannabis and Cannabis and India.
As a treasure chest for research
No other area offers more opportunity for research than cannabis today. In the last few years, international research papers connected with cannabis have burgeoned. Research into the use of cannabis covers areas as diverse as medicine, industrial applications, social and anthropological studies, legal studies, plant research, sustainable development, agriculture, and so on. A number of leading universities in the west now offer research curriculum on cannabis. Countries like Israel and Canada have emerged as global leaders in cannabis research. For a country like India, the home of cannabis, the legalization of cannabis will provide a tremendous boost to research. Currently, the illegal status of cannabis is one of the greatest bottlenecks to research on it. For more information, please see Cannabis and Research
I have just briefly touched upon some of the benefits of cannabis legalization here. The actual benefits are much more. More and more nations worldwide are starting to recognize the harms of prohibition, and starting the journey to legalization of cannabis once again. We too must if for nothing else but to save ourselves through the freeing a plant of nature from the absurd and unjust curbs of foolish human.
For a more detailed list of benefits of cannabis legalization, please see – Some reasons to legalize cannabis
Opposition and Hurdles to the Proposed Solution
Opposition
Opposition to the proposed solution of cannabis legalization are many and significant. The same forces that pushed for the prohibition of cannabis, over the last few centuries still exist, and have become very powerful in the absence of cannabis. In fact, they form the leading industries in the world today, controlling governments and global policies with their wealth and influence. These forces, and the hurdles that they pose to legalization must not be taken lightly as they have no only managed to bring about cannabis prohibition globally, but they have also managed to effectively brainwash the global population into thinking that cannabis is evil. There must be sufficient awareness and will in society to overcome these forces.
Cannabis as an intoxicant, and social recreational drug used by vast numbers of Indians, proved to be a most potent threat to these growing industries in the past and poses a major threat to them, even now, as has been widely acknowledged by various sections of society. Cannabis was much more affordable in the past, widely cultivated and used from time immemorial in Indian society. Users ranged from the poorest persons to elite classes of society. For the poorest persons, the affordability of cannabis, which could be easily grown at home and consumed with minimum processing, was of great appeal. It had escaped the burdensome taxation processes of past governments and was freely available. One of the first steps taken by the British government in the 18th and 19th centuries was to start taxing cannabis and curbing its cultivation. Specific steps were taken to completely eliminate home growing so that people were forced to go to the government run or approved retail outlets to procure their cannabis. For more information, please see – The Social and Religious Usage of Cannabis
I will list some of the opposition. This list is however not exhaustive. There are also many other subtle forces that operate in addition to the ones mentioned below. For more information please see – Cannabis Opposition
Alcohol and Tobacco industries
Both these industries had a significant hand in the prohibition of cannabis in India. These industries that emerged in the west in the last few centuries were already powerful at the outset, given that many wealthy businessmen and powerful politicians were deeply involved in and owned these industries. To provide a clear path for growth of these industries, all competition needed to be removed.
In spite of repeated warnings from well known and experienced persons from the social, political and medical classes, attempts were made to tax cannabis so that its price became comparable to that of western alcohol. Gradually people were forced and coerced to switch to alcohol even though it was widely acknowledged that alcohol posed a much greater threat to physical and mental health than cannabis as was evidenced in Europe. Tobacco too was encouraged and this new drug, which the Europeans discovered in the Americas, was introduced in India. Powerful politicians had huge tobacco plantations and went on to set up the giant tobacco companies that straddle the world today. Through the lobbying and influence exerted by these powerful alcohol and tobacco industries cannabis was systematically phased out. Today, it is said that a majority of Indians consume tobacco. Western liquor has also established itself firmly in Indian society and the liquor lobby is a powerful funder of all political parties. The opposition that they mount to cannabis legalization, directly and indirectly, through their mouthpieces, forms a significant part of the negative perception towards cannabis in India. They are sure to do all they can to keep cannabis prohibited, including lobbying India's lawmakers and policy makers. For more information, please see – Cannabis and Alcohol and Cannabis and Tobacco
The Pharmaceutical Industry
The once freely available generic universal medicine that cannabis represented, treating a wide range of ailments and forming a key part of Indian natural medicine, has now been replaced by the products of giant pharmaceutical companies. These companies have moved from generic plant based medicine to synthetic molecular medicine, backed by billions of dollars of research and patents, so that they can control the field of medicines. Where once a single plant was available that could be grown in one's garden to treat one's ailments, an individual today must spent thousands, and even lakhs, of rupees to procure a cocktail of drugs to address even a single ailment. The pharmaceutical industry, whose growth coincided with the decline of cannabis as medicine, actively lobbies the medical industry, influences medical research and contributes material to keep the negative perception of cannabis high among all classes of Indian society. This industry, with vast influence, political clout and financial means, is a key opposition to the legalization of cannabis in India. For more information, please see – Cannabis and the Pharmaceutical Industry
The Medical Industry
The medical industry, consisting of physicians, care centers and the medical equipment industry, is today completely driven by the synthetic pharmaceutical industry. Natural medicine finds no place in this world. All medical education and practice revolves around the synthetic pharmaceutical drugs that emerge from pharma companies. Pharma companies pump in huge amounts of money into medical colleges, control medical literature and provide physicians with enough financial incentives to ensure that natural medicine, especially cannabis, finds no place in the narrative. Today's physician has built his world around synthetic pharma drugs, expensive medical equipment, diagnostic and treatment. Today's physician misses no opportunity to ridicule natural medicine, especially cannabis, and has been largely instrumental in keeping cannabis prohibited with the story that it has no medicinal value. The world's most powerful medical organization, the WHO, is completely dominated by this lopsided view of medicine, where the only medicine that works is synthetic man-made medicine. For more information, please see – Cannabis and the Medical Industry
The Petrochemical Industry
This industry is possibly the largest industry in the world and the most powerful. Petrochemical based synthetic products number in millions and there is no area that they do not touch. These synthetic products, created at great cost to environment, represent the most dangerous threat to our environment with their all pervasive presence in our land, water, air, food and bodies. These products are mostly non-biodegradable. Cannabis poses a great threat to the petrochemical industry, given that it can be used to produce bio-degradable plastics, fabrics, fibers, building materials and a host of other materials that can replace the petrochemical industry's products. Hence, the opposition of this industry to cannabis legalization. The petrochemical industry, along with the synthetic pharmaceutical industry and the modern medical industry, form a triad, with each boosting the other to become wealthy and powerful. Together, they control nearly all governments in the world and global policy making.
Law and Drug Enforcement
These entities, including the excise department, judiciary, police and prisons, rely on cannabis statistics to vastly bloat their performance statistics. The cannabis statistics provide the necessary numbers that determine budget allocation for many of these entities. In the absence of cannabis related crimes and statistics, many of these entities stand exposed, as they would struggle to justify their budget allocation and resource requirements. These entities continue to link cannabis with crime in society and have been one of the key opponents to cannabis legalization. Cannabis prohibition enables these entities to extort money from individuals and target those whom they and their employers view as a threat. They contribute significant literature, influence media, social welfare organizations and public perception at large, that cannabis is an evil responsible for high rates of crime in society. This is contrary to the fact that it has almost no influence on crime, as has been evidenced in leading scientific studies and societies where cannabis has been legalized for recreational use. For more information, please see – Cannabis and Law Enforcement and Cannabis and Drug Enforcement Agencies
The Black Market
The black market for illegal drugs currently also includes cannabis, besides much more dangerous drugs like heroin and methamphetamine, in addition to a plethora of existing and newly emerging chemical drug cocktails. The black market for cannabis is worth lakhs of crores of rupees. It has the active participation of criminal networks and support of pharmaceutical industries and law enforcement. The huge amount of unaccounted money that flows into the coffers of these entities will be dealt a major blow if cannabis is legalized. Hence all these entities who ensure that the black market is thriving do their significant bit to ensure that cannabis remains prohibited and does not reach the common man. For more information, please see – Cannabis and the Black Market
The so-called 'Upper Classes' of Society
For the 'ruling or upper' classes of society, who get their power, wealth and influence by creating social and economic structures where they are the superior classes, it is important to control the lower classes and use them for their own benefit. Cannabis, essentially the herb of the laboring and working classes, indigenous communities and minorities, provides these classes with relative freedom as it functions as their medicine, recreation, as well as social and religious drug. To keep a check on these classes, to keep them in control and captive to the structures of society created by the upper classes, the prohibition of cannabis has been a great boon. Cannabis prohibition is a means to imprison and coerce those who are viewed as threats to the existing social structure, to impose customs, rules and the ways of life of the upper classes on those who do not follow these norms. Replacing the freely available and safe herb cannabis with alcohol, tobacco, opium and now synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, legal and illegal, the upper classes have managed to get all the other classes addicted to these poisons which they control, thus controlling and enslaving these classes themselves. The country's elite, working in conjunction with the British, were instrumental in bringing about cannabis prohibition in India. In return, they got plum jobs, opium and western alcohol. The prohibition of cannabis everywhere in the world, and especially in India, is the way that the upper classes maintain control over all the other classes and keep them chained to the existing social structure. These “upper” classes will do their utmost to keep cannabis prohibited, because in the legalization of cannabis they recognize the power and freedom that is likely to flow into the hands of the other classes, and so they fear it. For more information, please see – Cannabis and Equity and Cannabis and India
Hurdles
The above mentioned opponents to cannabis influence lawmakers, policy makers, and society at large, creating the myths that have contributed significantly to the negative perception against cannabis and its continuing prohibition. Some of the myths that have been propagated and which need to be overcome are as follows:
Myth 1 – Cannabis is a dangerous drug harmful to humans
There is no end to the false propaganda that is circulated, citing the deaths due to cannabis related overdose. This is one of the most widely spread myths, contributing significantly to the perception in society that cannabis is a dangerous drug. The scientific truth of the matter is that cannabis is one of the safest drugs in society today. Not only that, it has been around for as long as humans can remember, and has been used by different global populations, across age groups, for tens of thousands of years. Considering that cannabis is a natural herb, and consumed as such, its potency is tempered by natural evolutionary processes, unlike the dangerous synthetic substances churned out of laboratories. The safe to lethal dosage ratio of cannabis is somewhere in the range of 1:40000 which means that you would need to dose yourself with a quantity about 40000 times the quantity at which you feel its effects for you to possibly die, a near physical impossibility. On the other hand, alcohol has a safe to lethal dosage ratio in the range of 1:6 and heroin has a safe to lethal dosage ratio that could be as low as 1:3. The safe to lethal dosage ratios of most synthetic legal and illegal pharmaceutical drugs, including the prescription medicine that vast sections of society consume daily, fall somewhere in the range between that of alcohol and heroin. For more information please see Cannabis and harm reduction, Cannabis for recreational purposes , The social and religious use of cannabis and Cannabis and India.
Myth 2 – Cannabis legalization will increase usage among youth
This is a commonly heard and widespread argument that strikes at the heart of every parent and well wisher of society. Close examination of this myth will reveal that it is actually the prohibition of cannabis that forces youth to interact with the black market and procure cannabis, often of a spurious quality. The black market actively targets youth as they are the most vulnerable and not only sells cannabis to them but does so with the more deadly intent of hooking them onto more expensive, potent and dangerous chemical drugs, so as to make large profits. The rest of society remains with little or no access to cannabis in the meantime, remaining oblivious of the dangers and actively fueling the myth through ignorance. It has been found in societies where cannabis has been legalized that with legal age restrictions imposed on its procurement and drug education imparted in schools and colleges, the youth cannabis usage rates as well, as overall youth drug usage rates, have actually started declining, and have not increased as the perpetrators of this myth constantly strive to spread. For more information, please see Cannabis and Youth
Myth 3 – Cannabis is a key contributor to crime in society
This myth, fueled and spread by many, especially law enforcement, has been repeatedly found wanting in places where cannabis has been legalized. It has been found that the link between cannabis and increased crime in society is very weak. As far back as in the 19th century, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission had arrived at this conclusion through detailed investigations and consultations with law enforcement agencies and society. As evidenced in US states where cannabis has been legalized for recreational use in the past few years, there has been no significant spike in crime where cannabis has been legalized. Crime related to cannabis, if at all it occurs, is because there is no federal legalization in the US, due to which cannabis businesses do not have access to banking and so must handle cash. Besides this, the world over, the illegal status of cannabis means that it is currently handled by the black market, where many criminals with dealings in other areas like extortion, synthetic drug trafficking, arms deals and other criminal activities, use cannabis trade as a way to earn revenue and also strengthen their criminal networks. Even law and drug enforcement use cannabis prohibition as a way to extort money from innocent cannabis users, as is widely evident in recent times. In Canada, in just about two years of cannabis legalization, cannabis sales in the legal market has overtaken cannabis sales in the black market. So, contrary to the myth that is perpetrated, it is actually the illegal status of cannabis that leads to more crime in society. For more information, please see Cannabis and Crime
Myth 4 – Cannabis causes insanity
This is a myth spread by organizations formed by the above mentioned opponents of cannabis. Thorough investigation of the cases of insanity in India in the 19th century by the Hemp Commission revealed that the majority of cases of insanity attributed to cannabis were actually cases of pre-existing insanity in the individuals or cases wrongly diagnosed by unqualified persons ,such as law enforcement personnel with little or no qualifications to make a diagnosis of the mental health of an individual. This continues to happen everywhere as there is probably no argument that strikes more fear at the heart of society than that of an insane person, fueled by cannabis, indulging in rampant acts of violence, murder and rape. Our media has greatly contributed to this myth of reefer madness, and continues to do so, failing to differentiate sufficiently between different types of drugs, the nature of insanity and its causes. The myth of cannabis related insanity provides fuel for the medical and synthetic pharmaceutical industry to exploit innocent cannabis users, locking them up in rehabilitation centers, and pumping them with dangerous synthetic drugs, in the name of treatment. Law courts actively participate in this crime against society, by sending even a one time user of cannabis to rehabilitation centers, under threat of prison. In terms of insanity, no other recreational drug has been more responsible than the popular legal drug, alcohol, that also contributes significantly to violence. For more information, please see Cannabis and Insanity.
Myth 5 – Cannabis causes addiction
When the Indian Hemp Commission investigated cannabis usage in India, it found that the cases of excessive usage of cannabis were so few, as compared to the moderate usage, that it was almost negligible. Around 5% of cannabis users were classified as excessive. Even among the so-called excessive users, it was found that if these persons are deprived of cannabis, they showed none of the life threatening withdrawal symptoms associated with opioid or alcohol cessation. Even the criteria for classifying usage as moderate or excessive was not clearly defined, is subjective, and still continues to be so. For persons with a negative perception of cannabis, as is the case in the majority of society today, even a single use of the plant is sufficient to label a person as a highly addicted excessive drug user who needs immediate medical treatment. This has no doubt been fueled by drug rehabilitation centers, as well, who operate as profit making businesses in cohorts with the judiciary, pharmaceutical industry and medical industry. The reality that a person who uses cannabis excessively, usually has a constitution that makes him or her get addicted to various substances, is conveniently overlooked. The root causes of addiction are experiences such as childhood abuse, mental issues, social issues, trauma and other deep underlying causes which need to be addressed in society rather than wrongly attributing the causes of addiction to cannabis. Quite often the fact is completely missed that the absence of cannabis, as a recreational drug in society, is pushing these vulnerable persons to much more dangerous and addictive substance like alcohol, opiates and pharmaceutical medications that very quickly result in the person's social, economic, physical and mental breakdown and in most cases a rapid and painful death. In fact, cannabis is increasingly being used as treatment for opioid, cocaine, methamphetamine., alcohol and prescription drug addiction. It is widely acknowledged, including by bodies such as UNODC, that the form of rehabilitation required for excessive cannabis usage is counseling, which is also indicative of the low potency of cannabis to create addiction. For more information please see – Cannabis and Harm Reduction, Cannabis and Opium, Cannabis and Alcohol
Myth 6 – Cannabis causes road fatalities
Another myth that has often been repeatedly is that the usage of cannabis impairs a person's ability to operate vehicles and poses a health hazard. Though there have been numerous studies on the subject, none have found conclusive evidence that link cannabis directly to road fatalities. An increasing number of US cities are now banning cannabis related workplace testing. Workplace testing is only being done in occupations where hazardous tasks are involved, such as operating vehicles and heavy machinery. Even in these areas, it is increasingly being recognized that the way to mitigate accidents is to use of impairment based tests, rather than ban the cannabis user. The threat posed by cannabis, in terms of impairment, is far less in these situations to that posed by alcohol, sedatives and dangerous chemical drugs which are widely available, and actually currently used, in the absence of cannabis. In a country like India, where the majority of cannabis users are the poor, indigenous communities and the labouring classes, the risk of driving vehicles and causing fatalities, is much lesser than in Western countries where the number of individuals driving high powered vehicles is much higher. For more information, please see – Cannabis and Driving.
So, some of the challenges that cannabis legalization faces are from the above mentioned opponents and the hurdles they have created through myths propagated in society. The level of ignorance with relation to cannabis is extremely high. Media, thinkers, and influential leaders of society all strongly believe the false propaganda that cannabis opponents have created over the last century or so, and changing their perceptions is a key challenge.
Risks associated with Cannabis Legalization
Some perceived risks associated with cannabis legalization are mentioned below.
The risk that large numbers of youth will take to cannabis.
With legalization, the reduction of the black market of cannabis targeting youth will reduce. In the current situation of cannabis prohibition, deadlier legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco and illegal drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine, novel psychotropic substances, abuse of prescription drugs pose a far greater threat to youth. Also youth who generally have an aversion to intoxicants are not likely to suddenly become addicted in large numbers. They may try it as a novelty but few are likely to become highly dependent on cannabis. As mentioned in the previous section, this risk can be mitigated through education and awareness as well as a reversal of the negative propaganda surrounding cannabis. As evidenced in legalized societies these measures have been sufficient to minimize the risk and actually reduce youth cannabis consumption rates. In fact, in places where cannabis has been legalized, it has been found that it is the elderly who are the most likely to switch to cannabis use as it offers them great medical benefits as compared to synthetic pharmaceutical drugs and alcohol.
The risk of social degradation
The risk of Indian society degrading and falling apart with the availability of cannabis is also frequently spoken about by those opposed to it. Considering that Indian society used cannabis for tens of thousands of years before prohibition and did not cease to exist should be sufficient evidence that this risk is highly unlikely to be realized. Also, the fact that many of society's key thinkers, intellectuals and creative persons consume cannabis should also be evidence that its legalization will not lead to a moral, physical, mental and social breakdown of Indian society, instead it is likely to energize the vibrancy and health of society.
The risk of monopoly by big businesses
The risk of big businesses moving in to corner the Indian cannabis market, depriving Indian farmers, especially the poorest farmers and Indian society at large, is a very real risk. Already a number of multinational cannabis companies exist, especially Canadian, Dutch and Israeli companies. These companies have entered, or tried to enter, into agreements with African and South American governments, where they seek to corner the cannabis produce for export to North America and Europe where demand is high and produce is not locally available. The risk here is that the Indian small scale farmer and the poorer sections of society will not have access to cannabis which will be locally grown by these big businesses, processed and exported elsewhere. This will be a replay of what big businesses in the areas of alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals have done. It is important that sufficient safeguards are put in place so that the Indian small scale farmer and the sections of Indian society that need and stand to benefit from the plant the most i.e. the poorest, the indigenous communities, the minorities, the aged and the medically ill will not be deprived of the plant.
The risk of potent synthetic derivatives from cannabis causing harm
There is always the risk that some unscrupulous individuals, intent on maximizing their profits at any cost, will look to synthesize cannabis compounds, creating harmful new products with high potency, similar to heroin synthesized from opium. But when one considers that the one cannabis compound that has caused concern in recent times through synthesis is delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) related derivatives, it should be obvious that there is not much harm that can be synthesized out of cannabis. THC is the most medicinal compound in cannabis. Also, considering the high safety profile of cannabis, there are many other areas that society needs to be more concerned about, such as synthetic drugs, novel psychotropic substances (NPS), chemical fertilizers and pesticides and dangerous petrochemical based products. In any case, there are adequate safeguards in place in society, to regulate these synthetic substances, such as food and drug regulatory bodies, even though we cannot speak very highly of their effectiveness so far. Cannabis derived synthetics should rank amongst the lowest concerns in society today.
Concluding Remarks
In conclusion, it is important for us to correct a terrible historic wrong that has deprived large numbers of Indians of their fundamental rights to freedom of choosing their means of safe, healthy recreation and medicine and which has forced them to take up, in the place of cannabis, expensive and dangerous alternatives made available to them by successive governments. It is further important for Indian industry to explore the potential sustainable paths that cannabis holds promise to, in the face of devastating climate change and environmental damage. It is also important to provide our farmers with an additional sustainable means of livelihood to bolster their failing crops. Last, but not least, it is time for us to acknowledge that a plant created by nature, and so widely enjoyed by man, animals, birds and insects for millennia, cannot be banned as if it was one of man's foolish inventions, or as if nature is a criminal for creating the plant. Banning nature is not an option as it essentially means banning ourselves from this world.
References
Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-1895 - https://digital.nls.uk/74464868
New Frontier Data website - https://newfrontierdata.com/
NORML.org - https://norml.org/
National Crime Research Bureau statistics - http://ncrb.gov.in/StatPublications/PSI/Prison2017
Thoughts from the Void - https://ravingkoshy.blogspot.com/
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