The Chief Minister of Manipur, has said that his government is planning to legalise cannabis for medicine and industrial purposes. This has already been legalised in states of Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. He added that the decision regarding legalisation of cannabis will be finalised in the next cabinet meeting. Biren Singh shared informations regarding the steep increase in state tax revenue and gross domestic product, proving that there has been a very good development in state’s economic status through this governments’s actions and plans.
The 1961 international treaty Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs classified cannabis with hard drugs. NDPS banned the production and sale of cannabis resin and flowers, but permitted the use of the leaves and seeds. The Assam Ganja and Bhang Prohibition Act, 1958, prohibits sale, purchase, possession and consumption of ganja and bhang. In Maharashtra, Section 66(1)(b) of the Bombay Prohibition (BP) Act, 1949, bans manufacture, possession and consumption of bhang and bhang-containing substances without a license. On 21 February 2017, Gujarat legalized bhang by removing it from the list of "intoxicating drugs" covered by section 23 of the Gujarat Prohibition Act. In 2015, the first organised efforts to re-legalise cannabis in India appeared, with the holding of medical marijuana conferences in Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi by the Great Legalisation Movement India. On 2 November 2016, Lok Sabha MP Dharamvir Gandhi announced that he had received clearance from Parliament to table a Private Member's Bill seeking to amend the NDPS Act to allow for the legalised, regulated, and medically supervised supply of "non-synthetic" intoxicants including cannabis and opium. On 5 June 2018, Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor wrote an opinion piece expressing support for the legalization of cannabis, and concluding that it was "high time for India to embrace the health, business, and broader societal benefits that legally regulating cannabis can bring". In July 2019, the Delhi High Court agreed to hear a petition, filed by the Great Legalisation Movement Trust, challenging the ban on cannabis. The public interest litigation argues that grouping cannabis with other chemical drugs under the NDPS Act is "arbitrary, unscientific and unreasonable".
What a common man needs to know about cannabis is that it can have both good and bad effects. It can have positive impact on health conditions like nausea and muscle spasms. On the other hand, some may feel anxious because of its usage. Over time, smoking a lot of cannabis can irritate the respiratory tract, increasing risk of chronic coughing, shortness of breath and wheezing. Like tobacco smoke, cannabis smoke contains cancer-causing toxins, though the risk of developing some cancers is less for cannabis users, partly because they tend to smoke less than tobacco users.
The risk of using cannabis is mixed. It can have positive as well as negative effects. Complete ban of it might cause bad effects on medicinal industry. So more than ban, regulation is a more practical option. Henceforth, there must be practical solution to it.
Comments