Cannabis: How legal and accessible in India it really is

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Cannabis: How legal and accessible in India it really is

2 February 2017

by Dessidre Fleming

Nothing is truly hidden from anyone. All one has to do is seek it out earnestly enough. Such is the case with weed. It’s only a matter of looking and you don’t even have to look that hard, in order to find it. Yes, it’s supposed to be illegal. But, the measures and the nature of the illegalities of Cannabis in our country are, interestingly, quite relative.

There used to be a time when smoking weed in India was still legal—before the implementation of the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances) Act of 1985 by the Rajiv Gandhi government. Post-1985, India’s cannabis legacy is all but diluted. What’s considered spiritual to sadhus is considered illegal to the masses, on the surface. Cannabis has been around for over 5000 years now. And while the plant thrives in most parts of North and South India, its consumption is illegal.

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Thumbnail: Flickr CC Martijn