The irony is keen. The US was the driving force behind the singular approach to all ‘drugs’ at the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Though opposed to classifying cannabis with hard drugs, India finally gave in to sustained US pressure and enacted the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985.
The law criminalised the fruit and flower of cannabis but not the leaves used for making bhang, and its possession and consumption is not illegal. The Karnataka incident seems to suggest that many elements in India’s law enforcement system seem to be going the opposite direction in contravention of the country’s own traditional liberal relation with the recreational use of marijuana. For starters, the students should never have been hauled up smoking ganja.
At the United Nations in 2020, India voted to remove cannabis from the list of most dangerous substances. It makes sense that it practises at home what it stands for internationally. Decriminalising cannabis will also enable tapping the market potential of cannabis-related products – timber, textile and medication.
Several states like Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have regularised cannabis cultivation for limited use. Gujarat no longer classifies bhang as intoxicant. Till cannabis is decriminalised, it will remain a handy tool for rent-seeking and harassment.