Reuters
It's not all dark and it was all good until 1985 when Marijuana was legal in India, until Rajiv Gandhi's government banned it under America's pressure.
But first, let us delve into what is marijuana exactly. It's original name is Cannabis sativa, a plant whose dry leaves are used to make marijuana, often called as pot, grass, mall, stuff, and ganja in colloquial terms. Even hash and bhang are made from this plant only. Now, the question here is that why the consumption of bhang is not as regulated as marijuana. Also, why is the consumption of bhang at Holi or Mahashivratri considered to be absolutely fine? Reuters
even the Atharva Veda says one of the five most sacred plants is
Cannabis Sativa. It says the cannabis is a source of happiness, is a joy giver and a liberator. It was the backbone of Indian ayurvedic industry and was also known as the penicillin of ayurvedic medicine. In 1961 under American pressure in a UN convention, it was declared and put into the synthetic drug category but India denied to sign it at the time.
Later it was legalized in 27 states in the US for medicinal purposes and in 11 states for recreational purposes and the other startling fact is that, today it is partially legal in more than 40 countries. These countries are even said to have better gross happiness index than as compared to India. Isn't that strange when many claim that marijuana increases crime rate?
The hemp (made from Marijuana) industry consists of making body care products, food supplements, plastics which will account for $44 billion markets by 2020 in the US and on the other hand such a number is nowhere to be seen on India's charts. According to Forbes the hemp industry in the US will create more jobs than their manufacturing industry.
In India, the consumption of synthetic drugs like cocaine has increased since marijuana was banned, while it has decreased in the US since it was legalized in certain states. Even the crimes rate went down after its legalization.
According to Washington Post, in the states where marijuana is legal there is less consumption of painkillers and the alcohol consumption was lowered by 15 percent. Marijuana is basically bad business for liquor, tobacco and pharmaceutical companies. Even NGO's don't spare marijuana from creating a negative perception about the drug, which is actually funded by pharmaceutical, tobacco and liquor companies. According to a study, marijuana is 114 times less harmful than alcohol and cigarettes.
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