Pubdate: Sat, 10 Nov 2012
Source: Times of India, The (India)
Copyright: Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 2012
Contact:  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/453

OF HIGHS AND LAWS

India Never Saw Eye-To-Eye With the US-Led Drive to Outlaw 
Recreational Use of Cannabis Across the World

The referendum passed by two US states approving the recreational use 
of marijuana for adults is fraught with irony for India. Whether it 
can prevail over the stringent federal law or not, the referendum 
adopted by Colorado and Washington vindicates the reservations 
expressed by India 50 years ago to a global prohibition on hard as 
well as soft drugs.

The 1961 "single convention on narcotic drugs" was the first ever 
international treaty to have clubbed cannabis (or marijuana) with 
hard drugs and imposed a blanket ban on their production and supply 
except for medicinal and research purposes. During the negotiations 
for the UN treaty signed in New York, a group of cannabis and opium 
producing countries, led by India, opposed its intolerance to the 
sociocultural use of organic drugs. They were however overwhelmed by 
the US and other western countries which espoused tight controls on 
the production of organic raw material and on illicit trafficking.

The sharp divergences between the caucuses led by India and the US 
emanated from their contrasting domestic policies, particularly on 
cannabis. While most of the states in the US had banned all narcotic 
drugs by the '40s, India had a more pragmatic approach since its 
colonial days: its restrictions were focused on harder substances 
like opium. The Indian hemp drug commission appointed in 1893, far 
from finding it addictive, hailed cannabis for the "mild euphoria" 
and "pleasant relaxation" caused by it.

The dominant view on cannabis in the UN deliberations leading to the 
1961 treaty could not have been more different. However, in the 
compromises that followed to hammer out a consensus, the final draft 
of the treaty defined cannabis in such a manner that it left scope 
for India to carry on, for instance, with the tradition of bhang 
being consumed on a large scale on Holi. The treaty clarified that 
the cannabis forbidden by it was only "the flowering or fruiting tops 
of the cannabis plant", specifically "excluding the seeds and leaves 
when not accompanied by the tops".

In deference to the scale of traditional consumption in India, the 
1961 treaty also gave it a reprieve of 25 years to clamp down on 
recreational drugs derived from the tops. It was towards the end of 
this exemption period that the Rajiv Gandhi government came up with a 
law in 1985 conforming to the 1961 treaty: the narcotic drugs and 
psychotropic substances Act (NDPS).

Accordingly, NDPS replicated the loophole provided in the treaty's 
definition of cannabis, whereby its leaves and seeds have been spared 
the stigma of contraband. Besides, NDPS specified that cannabis meant 
charas (the resin extracted from the plant), ganja (the flowering or 
fruiting tops of the plant) and any mixture or drink prepared from 
either of the two permitted forms of marijuana. Thus, NDPS allows 
people to smoke pot or drink bhang so long as they can prove that 
they had consumed only the leaves and seeds of the cannabis plant.

Conversely, since marijuana grows wild across the country as a hardy 
weed, it is difficult for the Narcotic Control Bureau, set up under 
NDPS, or the local police to check people from imbibing the forbidden 
tops. The vagueness of the provision on marijuana is the closest 
India has been able to come to acknowledging what Colorado and 
Washington are now seeking to achieve through their referendum: 
recreational use of the weed.

The obligation to toe the US sponsored treaty did not however stop 
India from distinguishing marijuana from hard drugs when it came to 
prescribing penalties. Consistent with its scheme of determining the 
punishment according to the potency of the drug, NDPS prescribes a 
maximum sentence of six months for somebody found in possession of 
ganja up to one kilogram. In the case of a hard drug such as cocaine, 
the offender can get the same six-month sentence even for possessing 
two grams of it.

[sidebar]

ALCOHOLICS FACE A GREATER RISK THAN MARIJUANA USERS,DOCTORS INSIST

NEW DELHI: The medical fraternity here is viewing Colorado and 
Washington's decision to legalise recreational marijuana with 
interest. Doctors dealing with deaddiction say cases of marijuana 
addiction are rare, if not nonexistent , but feel its use might 
become a "gateway" for harder drugs like smack, heroin and cocaine, 
which really create the drugs problem among people.

Dr R C Jiloha, director and head of psychiatry at G B Pant Hospital 
and in-charge of de-addiction says: "Very few patients come to us for 
marijuana de-addiction . The drug is less addictive compared to 
heroine, crack cocaine or even alcohol. It doesn't cause bodyache, 
abdominal pain and other physical symptoms. Overuse of marijuana - 
like excessive drinking - may lead to some disorders." Occasional use 
does not have any long-term effect.

"The adverse health effects of marijuana are limited and much less as 
compared to crack cocaine or heroin. Nevertheless, as a doctor I 
cannot say it should be legalized as it is a type of addiction," said 
Dr Sudhir Gupta, associate professor, forensic medicine at AIIMS.

Psychiatrist & psychotherapist, Max Hospital, Saket, Dr Sameer 
Malhotra says marijuana use in Delhi is mostly among adults. "Despite 
the ban, marijuana is a common drug,. easily available in the black 
market. It doesn't have any serious health risks but legalizing it 
may not be a good idea as it could be the gateway for other substance abuse."

Another doctor added: "Those addicted to alcohol face a greater risk 
than marijuana users."

A decade after NDPS Act came into force, AIIMS called for a repeal of 
the cannabis ban saying the plant was used in the Indian system of 
medicine and that its stigmatization was impeding research. A 1997 
AIIMS publication quoted Lancet saying: "The smoking of cannabis, 
even long term, isn't harmful." The current churn in the US, the 
country that forced India to ban cannabis, provides an opportunity to 
make NDPS more liberal.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom