The UN commission on narcotic drugs has reclassified cannabis removing it from the category of most dangerous drugs according to a release. This was based on a series of world health organization recommendations released in 2019 on marijuana and its derivatives.
According to multiple recommendations by who’s expert committee on drug dependence, the non-intoxicating compound CBD does not need to be subjected to international controls. CBD has even gained prominence in the wellness industry. In India a discussion around CBD oil cropped up during the questioning of actor Deepika Padukone by NCB. Some Indian websites even reportedly sell CBD oil online with a prescription. In September actor Rhea Chakrabarti was arrested by the narcotics control bureau for allegedly purchasing marijuana for herself and late actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Many celebrity names later faced both NCB interrogation and public ire for allegedly possessing weed. Marijuana has been on a strictly controlled schedule for 59 years until the 53-member state of CND voted to remove it.
India also voted with the majority at the 63rd flagship international convention. 25 countries including China, Pakistan and Russia oppose the reclassification while India, the United States and most European countries voted yes with an abstention from Ukraine.
This will change the way cannabis is regulated internationally as it no longer stands alongside deadly addictive opioids including heroin in schedule 4 of the 1961 convention as per the U.N. The U.N noted CND has opened the door to recognizing the medicinal and therapeutic potential of the commonly used but still largely illegal recreational drug. Under India’s narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act 1985, there are provisions for use of charas, the separated reason, ganja, flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant among other plants of the genus. A treaty of 1961 criminalized weed as hard drugs in India, but it left its by-product bhang that is leaves or seeds of the cannabis plant excluding the top out. Consuming bhang is a common practice in some parts during religious ceremonies.
India had received a 25-year period to internally regulate the usage of recreational drugs under the treaty. People found in possession of or involved in cannabis production or sale and purchase are prosecuted under the law bearing medical or scientific use. The penalty is dependent on the quantity of the drug. The who counts cannabis as the most trafficked illicit drug in the world as for the U.N over 50 countries currently allow medicinal cannabis programs. In 2018 Uttarakhand turned out to be the first Indian state to legalize the cultivation of cannabis hemp for industrial purposes. Meanwhile Canada, Uruguay and 15 U.S states have allowed its recreational use while the UN’s decision to reclassify cannabis might not immediately change the way it is being regulated in India but it is expected that the decision would lead to a fresh protocol in the country, but cannabis surely have stirred a debate in India in the past months keeping people divided.
Aishwarya Says:
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