On December 2nd cannabis was removed from the dangerous drugs list by the United Nations. India voted in favor of the reclassification of the drug.
INTRODUCTION:
Drugs have always made news in the subcontinent. They are more popular than any other scandal. Everyone has access to them in the country. Be it legal or illegal. India is one of the biggest hubs in the world. You name it, we got it. Anything in that abundance will always be misused, so are drugs. This misuse of drugs has been undoubtedly increasing since the past decades. In such a perilous background, it was very necessary to have strict laws. Laws were required to control the access, possession and trade of drugs. The policy had to cover a vast range of subjects from health and rehabilitation of the drug abuser to the cultivation of drugs by small farmers. This makes it very difficult to frame a policy in the first place. And in the process of framing a policy, the makers might overlook the necessary aim of the policy. Needless to say, that every policy in the country always has some loopholes which need a lot of time for rectification. Considering all the technicalities and legalities involved in a policy or legislation, legalisation has always been on the table. There has always been a debate legalising less harmful drugs. In this background, cannabis has been the real winner. Be it in the United States where most states legalised marijuana or the whole world for that matter.
STORY SO FAR:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) since 2019 has recommended for reclassification of marijuana. WHO has advised the United Nations (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) to remove it from schedule 4, the dangerous drugs category and move it to Schedule I of the 1961 Convention. This has been implemented at the end of 2020. In December 2020 UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) has voted on this issue. Out of 53 member nations, 27 countries voted for the reclassification and 25 voted against it. Ukraine abstained from participating in the voting. India, the United States and European nations were part of the 27 countries, while Egypt, China, Russia and Pakistan were some of the countries who voted against it. Many of the countries have considered the recommendations of WHO and have asked time to analyse the outcomes if legalised or rescheduled. Finally, for realising the medicinal values of the drug the commission voted in favour of rescheduling. Many of the states in the United States have already legalised cannabis. Experts say that it would be difficult to see any immediate impact, as it is not being completely legalised. It is still under the drugs category, but there is a little relaxation on the restriction. This historic move can also change the trade equation between nations. Many countries may earn huge revenues which might in turn affect the national economy. Many nations after voting, have defended their stance. They discussed their respective future plan to realise the same.
ANALYSIS:
The implications of this move are far-reaching and to be honest incomprehensible at this point. As many of the countries are not yet clear about their action plan. Even the change, on the whole, is a tad bit grey. The purpose of the change is very clear, which is to use cannabis and its resin for medicinal and therapeutic values. The conventions allow CDN to decide on the scope of control of the substances. By placing cannabis in schedule 1, it is still subject to control of the convention and CND. As many as eight recommendations were made by WHO regarding cannabis and related substances. But only this one recommendation was considered and voted for. Even this change was put through a lot of scrutiny and the decision is taken only after putting it through experts.
Drug control policy has always been driven by political and social factors. The political pressure was to appease people who vote. So if there is a restriction or criminalising drugs, it is according to those who think it is morally wrong and if it is liberation it is by those who use drugs. But lately the economic factor has been invading into policy making. So any policy changes made now are scrutinised by cost benefit analysis. Economists have always noted that the execution cost of drug control is very high than the benefits from restriction. They have always advocated for legalisation of drugs, which is very much beneficial for the economy of a country. Legalisation would make it easily available at lower cost. This would destroy any mafia or illegal trafficking of drugs. Which in turn would reduce half of the crime. The only dissent to this whole debate is the demand and supply increase and it would affect the health of individuals. But the basis of this argument is hope but not statistics. Hope that effective punishment would reduce the use. But it is having opposite results which cannot be remedied. The wanted deterrent effect is myopic. Instead of the deterrent effect, the result is prisons filled with teenagers and others for drug possession. Downgrading of cannabis might not bring an overnight change in the drug policy of various nations. But it will definitely catalyse the consideration of decriminalisation and legalisation of cannabis. This might allow for further discovery of medicinal value and research in the areas of this particular drug.
WHAT IT MEANS TO INDIA:
India was part of the majority. Cannabis and India have a long history. It dates back to the pre-independence era. Cannabis was legal during the time of independence and it was left legal after attaining independence. Only after the 1961 convention on the international stage, India wanted to change its stand. It was a signatory to the convention. In execution of the same the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was passed in 1985 to control drug use. The main purpose of the act is to deter drug abuse by criminalising the same. The legislation criminalises use of cannabis partly. According to the definition, the leaves and seeds of the cannabis plant are excluded from the control of the act. Whatever other parts like the flowers, buds and used in a mixture form is prohibited. The voting in this historical move shows the changing stand of India towards cannabis. The question remains whether it will decriminalise the use of cannabis following the trial of other countries or will it legalise the use of cannabis. As of 2019 almost three crore Indians use cannabis. All three crores cannot be put in jail. Then we will end up like other countries with high incarceration rates. But what we can do instead is to make that use safe, by legalising it. Legalisation will protect the small farmers, who cultivate cannabis and help them in trade. Only thing is to have more benefits of trade and export. India should hurry up and do it before the US does it.
CONCLUSION:
In India policy regarding cannabis is not only a scientific or political issue, it is part of the culture. It is part of the religion for some. The policy and the act definitely need a relook and change according to the changing times. There are critics who say that decriminalising or legalising cannabis would be unconstitutional. As article 47 states that it is the duty of the state to protect its citizens and improve public health, so removing the restrictions would violate the duty. But the whole purpose of rescheduling is to extract any medicinal value and use the drug beneficially for the public. Decades-long stand regarding cannabis is being changed, so India can also accommodate the change. We should only see that this regime like its counterparts should not be uninformed and deficient in the important areas.
(This article is written by Rishav Kumar of Chanakya National Law University)