CANNABIS or HEMP CULTIVATION

CANNABIS or HEMP CULTIVATION

Subject: Current Events

Context: In a significant announcement in his annual budget speech last week, Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced that the state government is coming up with a policy to allow controlled cultivation of hemp or cannabis in the state.

Concept:

• Marijuana (or hemp), part of the cannabis super-family, is illegal for commercial cultivation though it grows as weed in several parts of the country. Uttarakhand, Jammu and — recently Uttar Pradesh — have allowed restricted cultivation of the plant for medical research.
• The Marijuana has two components CBD (cannabidiol) and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol ).
• CBD does not cause intoxication or euphoria and has been successfully proven to provide relief to chronic pain without causing psychoactive side effects.
• It is THC which is the primary psychoactive components of Marijuana.

Isn’t cannabis cultivation illegal in India?

• In 1985, India banned the cultivation of cannabis plant under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. But this Act allows state governments to allow controlled and regulated cultivation of hemp for obtaining its fibre and seed for industrial or horticultural purposes.
• In 2018, Uttarakhand became the first state in the country to do so, allowing the cultivation of only those strains of cannabis plant which have a low concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the primary psychoactive constituent of cannabis that produces a high sensation.
• Uttar Pradesh followed a similar policy, while Madhya Pradesh and Manipur are reportedly considering it as well.

1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs

• The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 is an international treaty to prohibit production and supply of specific (nominally narcotic) drugs and of drugs with similar effects except under licence for specific purposes, such as medical treatment and research.
• The Single Convention refers to drug addiction as “a serious evil for the individual [that] is fraught with social and economic danger to mankind”.