Pot Luck

On December 2, India joined 26 other nations of the Commission on Narcotics Drugs (CND), the United Nations바카라�s main drug policy-making organ, to vote for removing cannabis from the list of dangerous drugs and reclassify it as one with medical or therapeutic benefits. The decision came 59 years after cannabis was placed alongside opioids like heroin and desomorphine, and strictly controlled globally.

The watershed moment, described by the UN as one that would open the door to 바카라�recognising the medicinal and therapeutic potential바카라� of cannabis derivatives, went largely unnoticed in India. Back home, a majority of Indians continue to get their kick from the ongoing kerfuffle over actor Sushant Singh Rajput바카라�s death by suicide, his partner Rhea Chakraborty바카라�s alleged role in procuring marijuana for him and a Narcotics Control Bureau probe that would have everyone believe that Bollywood 바카라�A listers바카라� are part of some grand reefers바카라� club.

The vote in Vienna is also a major win for medical researchers and some lawmakers in India who have been pushing for a comprehensive research and development policy for studying medicinal uses of the stigma-ridden cannabis plant. And a win also for entrepreneurs who have in recent years invested heavily in start-ups linked to the nearly 10 billion-dollar global cannabis industry.

For over three decades, the five-bladed leaf has been a banned substance under India바카라�s Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. This, even as several Indian states바카라�like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana바카라�have adopted policies allowing industrial and medicinal exploitation of cannabis though cultivation of the plant remains illegal in most parts of the country. The CND vote, cannabis proponents in India believe, will help recast India바카라�s collective mindset towards the plant and its derivatives. It may also propel Modi바카라�s Aatma Nirbhar Bharat pitch by allowing entrepreneurs and agriculturists and horticulturists in cannabis-rich territories of Himachal, Uttarakhand, the Northeastern states and Kerala to partake in the internationally growing cannabis industry.

Dr Atul Ambekar, a professor at the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre and Department of Psychiatry in AIIMS, feels that India바카라�s policy reform on cannabis use needs to be 바카라�de-linked from the CND vote바카라� since the country바카라�s stand was 바카라�not different from our stated position on the usefulness of cannabis under domestic laws바카라�. Ambekar says res­cheduling of cannabis essentially brings out the drug from the hitherto tagged category of 바카라�very harmful and useless and places it into a segment of harmful but useful drug.바카라� Ambekar tells Outlook that India바카라�s position on cannabis has always been that it is a useful drug which needs to be studied for its medicinal and cultural importance but efforts to research the plant were hampered by the 1961 Convention.

The NDPS Act criminalises cannabis use under the classifications of charas (the separated resin of cannabis), hashish oil, ganja (the flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant) or any mixture, with or without any neutral material, of these derivatives. The Act also bans cultivation of cannabis and 바카라�manufactured drugs바카라� made from 바카라�medicinal cannabis바카라�바카라�the only exception now, all­owed by the AYUSH ministry, is for use of cannabis derivatives in various Ayurveda remedies.

Proponents of medicinal and industrial use of cannabis have for long claimed that the substance was vilified by the CND without thorough scientific assessment. The cannabis research lobby has often argued that the Schedule IV tag was the legacy of decades-old, misplaced morals of the West and represented a discredited value system connected to racism and intolerance for indigenous peoples and cultures. The CND vote comes at a time when there has been a reappraisal of cannabis globally with 50-odd countries adopting medicinal cannabis programmes linked to therapies of cancer, epilepsy and other ailments. Canada, Uruguay and 15 US states have also legalised its recreational use.

Dr G. Shreekumar Menon, who heads the Centre for Narcotics & Psychotropic Substances at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, tells Outlook that res­cheduling of cannabis 바카라�opens up a massive field of research and development which in due course has the potential of unimaginable economic gains바카라�. Menon explains that there are two strains of cannabis for which separate policies must be drafted as both have a variety of uses. 바카라�Hemp, which is the non-narcotic part of the plant, can be used for making fabrics, paper, cosmetics and a whole array of industrial/commercial goods; the leaves and buds which have cannabidiol and Tetrahydrocannabinol (the actual narcotic substance) can be harnessed for medicinal use,바카라� says Menon, ex-director general, National Academy of Customs, Excise & Narcotics.

He cites the examples of Nepal where 바카라�an entire legitimate industry of THC-free cannabis products like shoes, socks, clothes, etc. has come up over the past few years바카라� and Turkey where 바카라�they have done extensive research on use of hemp and are currently manufacturing bullet-proof hemp jackets that are nine times stronger than steel바카라�.

The two strains of cannabis have spurred several ambitious and fin­ancially rewarding ventures in India in recent years. Vinesh Chandrakant, who set up CBD Store India in June 2019, says his venture, a common platform for different imported brands of hemp and CBD products바카라�edibles, cosmetics, clothing and herbal remedies바카라�is already the 바카라�largest cannabis products site in south Asia바카라�. Chandrakant, however, cautions against 바카라�half-baked studies and greed for a quick buck which may end up making CBD-based medicines as common as Dolo or Pantocid and place lives at risk바카라�.

Chandrakant says lawmakers must not 바카라�over-legislate바카라� cannabis. 바카라�In states like Himachal and Uttarakhand, cannabis grows wild and sustains an entire rural economy. If the government legalises cannabis but says it will, as it does with opium, take over cultivation and then give land on contract for growing the plant, this rural economy might just collapse because many poor people will be excluded from such a process.바카라�

A 2018 national survey carried out by the government to determine the 바카라�extent and pattern of substance use바카라� had estimated an estimated 3.10 crore cannabis users in India. Extensive research on medicinal use of cannabis may also help with developing de-addiction therapy for this huge chunk of population. The Covid-induced lockdown, which made availability of marijuana and other narcotic derivatives of cannabis difficult to procure for addicts due to curbs on free movement, possibly had the unintended result of many people turning to medicinal cannabis remedies online.

CBD Store India, which has its own panel of medical professionals to counsel consumers and provide them prescriptive CBD remedies, saw a huge spike in the period between June and December in sale of its products.

The Bombay Hemp Company (Boheco), set up by seven graduates in Bombay has been working closely with the central and state governments in an effort to liberalise India바카라�s cannabis policy. With investors like Ratan Tata and former Google India managing director Rajan Anandan, Boheco is also inv­olved with extensive R&D on various cannabis derivatives. Boheco co-founder and director of business, Yash Kotak feels that private players rushing to enter the medicinal cannabis industry 바카라�have a greater responsibility now to uphold prevailing regulations on the drug and not take consumers for a ride바카라�. He says a plethora of cannabis products have flooded the Indian market in recent years and 바카라�not all may be entirely legit or safe to use, particularly if disclosure about their composition by the sellers is not honest바카라�.

Kotak sees the CND vote as a 바카라�major opportunity for boosting R&D in cannabis바카라� and hopes that research endeavours by Boheco and other stakeholders will help the government adopt a more scientific and not moralistic approach towards studying the efficacy of medicinal cannabis. 바카라�There is still a lot of work to do,바카라� says Kotak.