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Can Fast-Changing Laws on Cannabis Use Be a Golden Opportunity for India?

Can Fast-Changing Laws on Cannabis Use Be a Golden Opportunity for India?

This is a clear indication that the US is almost on the verge of abandoning its aggressive and discriminatory war on drugs started by former President Richard Nixon, and is slowly moving towards an evidence-based, more humane drug policy.

India on the other hand, where marijuana has been used for centuries, continues to incarcerate people for possession of marijuana through its overly punitive Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS) Act.

Although India wants to follow the progressive west, it doesn’t know why and more importantly — how to? The country was in a similar situation during the ’60s and the ’70s when it was being compelled to draft and enforce strong anti-drug laws.

While the US and many European countries are moving towards legalising some drugs and decriminalising all drug use, India is still confused – and the confusion is now visible on the international stage.

With the best legal team at his disposal that any regular Indian can only dream of, Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, spent 26 days behind bars. NDPS is a law which has been routinely misused to wrongfully incarcerate Indian citizens.

India voted in favour to call cannabis a less dangerous drug but was the only country which didn’t explain its position or say a word on why it chose to do so. What could India possibly have said without contradicting itself, as its own law – the NDPS – could send a person to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for possession of cannabis.

Even though the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is against the use of death penalty for drug abuse and trafficking, and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) urges all governments to review and abolish the death sentence for drug-related offences, India still has a death penalty under the NDPS Act.

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