Often attributed as the ‘weed capital’ of the world, India has seen a surge in cannabis consumption in 2018 with Delhi and Mumbai amongst the top 10 consumers of cannabis, German Data Firm, ABCD.
The number of consumers increased over the past few years, especially in 2018 when the consumption sky-rocketed in the high-end cities of India. Delhi and Mumbai consumed a whopping 38.2 tonnes and 32.4 tonnes of marijuana respectively.
The data shows that Delhi consumed 10 times more cannabis than Amsterdam in 2018, where it’s legal.
While Mumbai stood at sixth position, Delhi secured third place on the chart prepared by the German Data Firm.
The cannabis is partially legal in India and is only used for industrial and medical purposes. People, if found guilty of using the drug, can be imprisoned upto ten years, and fined upto Rs 10,000.
However, the legal stature of the substance has not deterred consumers from smoking-up. Even with the law in place, there are around 7 million people who roll a joint every year.
Priya Mishra, Founder- Hempvati, an organization that strives for the legalization of cannabis in India, told The Logical Indian how easy it is to procure cannabis in India.
“The medical cannabis is legal and very much in place. It can easily be delivered at your doorstep with a prescription. I was too a tuberculosis patient and consumption of marijuana cured my disease,” said Mishra.
On asking why it is largely consumed in India despite the ban, she said, “India consumes cannabis because we have it embedded in our culture and genes. The majority still cannot accept it because of the stigma attached to its consumption. And, we at Hempvati try to break it.”
Mishra calls herself the first and only female Indian cannabis activist.
While cannabis leads to problems such as anxiety and distress, it can also cause hallucinations and paranoia in the longer run.
However, the community that supports cannabis consumption does not prescribe to this school of thought. They believe that it can cure diseases like cancer, tuberculosis, and diarrhoea as mentioned in the Atharva Veda, one of the four Vedas in Hinduism.
“Cannabis is equivalent to bhang. If that remains legal then why not marijuana? People intoxicate themselves with cannabis and drive vehicles and that is as perilous as drinking and driving. But no heed is paid as the government is still not ready to accept the humongous number of cannabis consumers in India,” said Shiwani Khushwah,23, a resident of Delhi.
A study conducted by the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences reports that about 7.2 million Indians consume cannabis in a year.
According to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, the retail price of cannabis in India is $0.10 per gram making it the cheapest in the world. Hence, India is the hotspot for smokers all across the world.
India offers more than 15 unique psychedelic varieties of the drugs that vary from Mysore Mango and Shrooms grown in Karnataka region to Super-cream and Malana in Himachal-Pradesh.
Due to the coveted business of drugs, the lobbyists see Indian as a potential market for offshore companies. The illicit trade of cannabis has resulted in the loss of Rs. 725 crore a year to Delhi and Rs. 641 crore to Mumbai in additional income, if the cannabis were to be taxed at the same rate as the most popular cigarette in the country.
“It is already getting traded in India. Vendors are there to sell it. If it is legalised in India it will also contribute to the economic growth considering its consumption/demand is huge,” a 24-year-old Mumbaikar told The Logical Indian on the condition of anonymity.
In 1985, when the US put a blanket ban on the use of the substance, urging the allies to do the same, India under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act banned the sale and production of cannabis.
The views expressed in the article are individual opinions, The Logical Indian does not support or endorse them.
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