scorecardresearch
Friday, March 29, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeThePrint EssentialRhea Chakraborty held in drugs case — here’s legal history of cannabis,...

Rhea Chakraborty held in drugs case — here’s legal history of cannabis, weed, hash in India

Cannabis is the most consumed psychoactive substance in India after alcohol, and its use was legal until 1984. Its calming effects have made it one of the most commonly used plants.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

New Delhi: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested actor Rhea Chakraborty Tuesday in a drugs case in connection with the death of her boyfriend and actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Her bail plea was rejected by a magistrate court and she has been sent to judicial custody until 22 September. 

The NCB stated Rhea was “an active member of a drug syndicate”. The NCB’s case hinged on the “discovery of 59 grams of curated marijuana from two men identified as Abbas Lakhani and Karan Arora” and the links they allegedly had with those close to Rajput.

Chakraborty’s arrest has sparked a debate regarding the legal history of cannabis and its byproducts such as weed, hashish and hemp oil, among others. 

History of cannabis in India

The consumption of Cannabis — “a group of three plants with psychoactive properties, known as Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis” — in India has been recorded as far back as the early as 5,000-4,000 BC.

Its relaxing and calming effects have made it one of the most commonly used plants, especially for Ayurvedic medicinal purposes, with over 3 crore Indians consuming it, according to the National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India by the Ministry of Social Justice, which was conducted in 2018 and released last year.

Cannabis is the most consumed substance in India, second only to alcohol, and its use was legal until 1984. However, calls for its criminalisation were raised long ago in British India in 1838, 1871 and 1877. 


Also read: Media trial of Rhea Chakraborty by TV channels is a potboiler based on conspiracy theories


Criminalisation of cannabis in India 

India’s ban on drugs was heavily influenced by the US policy on the criminalisation of drugs — linking it to “insanity, criminality and death” and “the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind” among African-American and Hispanic population.

The US was the driving force behind the global prohibition of drugs, which came into effect via the United Nations’ 1961 Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which “influenced the enactment of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, created international obligations to curb traffic, cultivation, use etc. of narcotic drugs, including cannabis”.

The international treaty came into effect on 8 August 1975 and the NDPS Act in 1985, which is when India passed the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act that criminalises cannabis in the form of buds (charas) but allows the sale of bhang — “a byproduct of cannabis that is still heavily consumed on festivals like Holi and Shivratri”. 

However, this was not the first law that prohibited drug use in India. 

The Opium Act, 1852, The Opium Act, 1878, and The Dangerous Drugs Act, 1930, were already being exercised to control narcotics, but over time their inadequacies came to the fore, owing to “developments in the field of illicit drug traffic and drug abuse at national and international level,” — thus paving the way for the passage of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Bill in Parliament. 

The Act has, however, come under scrutiny for being draconian. 

Its bail provisions are identical to those of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act and Prevention of Terrorism Act where “an accused person is not to be released on bail unless the court has reasonable grounds to believe that the accused is not guilty and is not likely to commit an offence while on bail”. 

Moreover, if an individual is convicted under Section 31A of the NDPS Act, “mandatory death sentence, without the alternative of life imprisonment in the case of a second conviction” was the punishment — until an amendment was made in 2014, when death penalty was made optional.

The economic aspect

The NDPS Act limits India’s contribution to the $4.7 billion hemp market — which is expected to touch $15.8 billion by 2027 — to just 0.001 per cent.

With over 3 crore Indians consuming cannabis, a study by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy found in 2018 that Delhi can raise Rs 725 crore and Mumbai Rs 641 crore if cannabis is taxed.

India’s laws against cannabis are based on an Act that is now nearly redundant, with the US having legalised it for recreational use in 11 states — with others expected to follow suit this year — and for medical use in over 30 states

Calls for legalising cannabis in India have gained momentum in the past. 

Patiala MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi’s Private Bill that sought the “legalisation of certain intoxicants, such as opium and marijuana”, was cleared by Parliament’s legislative branch in 2016, but is yet to be passed. 

The Sikkim Anti-Drugs Act, 2006, — which “does not utilise deterrence to curb drug use and relies on a public health approach to protect the best interests of a drug user” — has been hailed as a “promising indigenous decriminalisation model”. 

While the use of cannabis is legal in Uttarakhand for industrial purposes, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh were considering going down the same line but a step in that direction is yet to be taken.


Also read: All about drugs cases against actors Rhea Chakraborty, Ragini Dwivedi & Sanjjanaa Galrani


 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

9 COMMENTS

  1. Colorado car accidents did u know how many people suffered from car accidents .it was legalised there 80 antimarijuana orgs are working what do think about that.already alcohol ,tobacco is menance u add another one

  2. To print media .even America u can’t grow more than 4 plants of marijuana .it is still illegal in America .80 antimarijuana organization fighting in America against legalisation .if suppose one psychedelic is legal.drug mafia will use it as an excuse to legal cocaine LSD ,MDMA becoz these all are psycddelic .u guys didn’t see people dying from addiction .becoz u didn’t suffer drunk domestic violence .and question people in Colorado car accidents which are under weed .do u know how many people died in car accidents after legalisation of weed in Colorado .?? Selfish agendas should be kept aside

  3. Your comment is another sorry & pathetic attempt to mix two different issues of legalization with SSR trial with your biased and narrow mindset which is already filled with godi media & SM based opinions

  4. Nobody is saying that crime wasn’t committed by Rhea Chakraborty , we tryna say , you could not catch her for helping with a murder? Aiding and abetting shit? You wanted to get her at any cost, like there was pressure we all understand, but you are victimizing Marijuana which most of the Indian population which act like they don’t like it, but secretly love it, i mean there are fuckin’ temples offering weed as Prasad in Karnataka. And the cops are trying to catch the consumers, sellers and pushers. It’s either something going on in the background, cops losing their share of money, big players losing their money or stocks or shares or something…! It is what it is man! Start regulating the selling (make it legal for +18 or +21 for recreational use), we will have so much fuckin revenue out of it. More than your beloved alcohol i guess. Also, don’t you d**k heads think alcohol too ain’t a drug?

  5. I just cannot be more happy seing, that in the whole world people are standing up against big pharma and bribed governments. They do not stop us! Legalize it, grow it, smoke/vape it!

    • Drug Prohibition bears many strong and startling similarities to Torquemada­’s inquisition­, its supporters are servants of tyranny and hate, whose sole purpose is to make the rest of us suffer their putrid legacy of incalculable waste and destruction.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular