Shouldmarijuana be legalized on governmental level?Introduction tomarijuanaMarijuana is the most commonly used illicit drugwith an estimated 120 million engrossing it in some form or the other. In India,marijuana has been historically bound to piety and mysticism .It is called adrug that helps to achieve “elatedness in the real sense of the word”.
In everycorner of this nation people consume and celebrate with charas (hash), alcoholand weed. People in India consume bhang which is also used to attain”elatedness in the real sense of the word” on religious festivals. Anywayspeople are consuming these drugs then why not legitimate the use of marijuanawhich has at least many pros unlike others. People of today’s generation have forgotten thehealing properties of marijuana. It was widely used for analgesia, antibiotic medicines, and low toxicmedicines, when O’Shaughnessy introduced marijuana in the western world.HistoryMost peoplerefer to marijuana as weed. It is a product of a plant knows as “cannabissativa”.
Generally people refer tocannabis sativa as cannabis hemp. There are many plants which are known as hempbut cannabis hemp is the most useful of them just because it produces the threemost useful products viz. seed, medicine and pulp. Cannabis sativa do notrequire any special climatic condition to grow, it can be planted in thevariety of climatic conditions. (T.H)Originof Cannabis and usage in IndiaCannabisproduct was first mentioned in the writings of the Chinese emperor Shen Nung.He mainly focused on themedication power of cannabis.
Intoxicating properties were also mentioned butmedicinal value was considered more important (narconon).Talking abouthistory of marijuana in India, people have been using it for enjoyment purpose. People usedweed legally before 1986 but when brassbound narcotic laws came into effect, itwas next to impossible to use it legally even for medical purpose. These lawsmade sale, transportation and consumption of marijuana illicit. As we all knowIndians did not want to ban the sale of marijuana, it was under the peerpressure of United States because at that time, Rajiv Gandhi wanted tointroduce super computer technology to Indians. It was a deal between India andUS.Author’s viewsOveruse of anything is not good. No drug isperfectly safe to use if one is overusing it.
Every psychoactive drug canbecome a problem after limited use. It was obviously an overreaction from thepart of government. The act which forced us to stop the use of marijuana is Narcotic Drugs and PsychotropicSubstances Act (1985) and the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in NarcoticDrugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (1985). As it has been amended threetimes – 1988, 2001 and 2014. Federal government of America accused marijuana tobe a gateway drug, dramatically more impotent today and is more addictive inits own rights.
But in 1988,Drug enforcement administration’s own administrative law judge quoted that “marijuanain its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substancesknown to man”. If it is the safest substance and has lots of medicinalvalue then marijuana should be legalised. A recent study suggests that users ofmarijuana has three-fold higher risk of dying from high blood pressure- butthat study was observational, which means a bunch of people were observed andnoticed what happened to them. Hence researches cannot confirm the suggestionor they cannot infer that smoking marijuana increases the risk of high bloodpressure to three times.
Products of marijuana like hemp oil, bosom lotionare used to cure cancer tumours but the company which made these products waswarned by F.D.A. to stop manufacturing the products derived from marijuana.
Butdoctors at the hospitals who are using these products to cure cancer tumourssaid that “these products will be treated just like other products that make unproven claims to reducecancer threat” , and also quoted, “We don’t letcompanies market products that deliberately prey on sick people with baselessclaims that their substances can shrink or cure cancer.”Moreover, overdose of marijuana donot cause death. Although in 2017, two doctors in Colorado claimed first everknown death of an eleven year old due to marijuana overdose.
They could notfind any other reason for the death of an eleven year old. They found THC (tetrahydrocannabinol)in his urine and blood. Irony is- people have been using marijuana since 2727B.C.
but they claimed first death due to marijuana overdose in 2017. Thisinfers that marijuana smokers smokes only a fraction of what heavy cigarettesmokers smoke and that is why lung cancer is very rare due to marijuanaoverdose.Furthermore, marijuana may be aleast addictive and problematic of all the psychoactive drugs, many of whichare now legal.
Adding on, people who smoke marijuana do not show violent andhasty sexual behaviour.Adding up all the above argumentsand the medicinal value of marijuana, I think that marijuana should belegalised on the governmental level.Prosof marijuanaThe medical aspectIndia issued first cannabis growlicense on August 18, 2017. The official license holder is the Council of Scientific and Medical Research(CSIR). The council will work with Bombay Hemp Company (BOHECO).
Although,BOHECO will produce medicines with high-CBD variety. CBD is the product ofcannabis plant which itself is banned in India because of another product itproduces known as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) because studies from USA andEurope suggests that all the physcoactive activities comes from THC whilemedicinal value is contained in CBD. It was an erroneous idea that THC has nomedicinal value and it will only lead to spreading of addiction at an alarmingrate. And this will postpone the legalization of marijuana for decades (dope magazine).Why didn’t Indian governmentlegalise marijuana before? Didn’t they realise the medicinal value of marijuanaback then when Rajiv Gandhi banned it at the first place? It could have helpednumber of patients who were suffering from cancer and traumas. In USA, pharmaceutical products whichcontain THC are legally sold. Some people find the tablet form easy and somedevour it in teas and baked products.
But majority of people find smoking iteasy and pleasant. Same goes for India. People in India find smoking the mosteffective way both for medicinal properties and for recreational properties.
The Business aspectIn hilly areas like Jammu and Kashmirand Himachal regions, legalization of marijuana will create job opportunitiesand it will decrease India’s unemployment problem. When Colorado legalisemarijuana, it made 10,000 jobs and significantly decreased unemployment rate inColorado. In regions like Himachal Pradesh andTamil Nadu, marijuana is the only source of income. Banning lead farmers tosell it at a cheap price to drug dealers and police threatens them who shouldbe paid time to time to destroy cannabis plantations.If the government legalizesmarijuana, the government can earn huge amount of taxes on it which now aredirectly going to Italian and Israeli drug cartels.Adding up all the above arguments,legalization will create abundance of job opportunity and will decrease India’sunemployment rate and will help the government to increase their revenue.The Quality aspectPeople in India anyways consumemarijuana in.
Legalization of marijuana will ensure that good quality ofmarijuana is reaching to customers. Seller’s now-a-days mixes weed with hashand then sell it to customers. Legalization will improve the quality soldbecause after legalization, the government can control the regulation and salesof drug.
