International Status of Marijuana

The use of marijuana can be traced back to as early as 5000-4000 BC. Cannabis and its
derivatives(marijuana, hash/charas and bhang) is the most traditional and for most of the
human history legal. The use of marijuana is medicinal as well as recreational. The medical
use of such drugs has been given in Ayurvedic texts like the Rajanighantu.
Idea to criminalize marijuana was moved in the year 1961 after the Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs to prohibit production and supply of specific drugs. Influenced by this treaty
many countries including US put a blanket ban on the production and supply of specific
drugs. Overwhelmed by this this move India also decided to criminalize production and
supply of drugs and in the year 1985 they passed the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances Act which banned consumption and production of marijuana.
While India still criminalizes marijuana in 2020 there are several countries that have moved
towards decriminalizing the same.
Portugal being the first country to decriminalize the use of every drug. Decriminalisation is
up to a certain quantity like 25g for weed, 5g for hash and 2.5g for THC oil.
After this many others countries decriminalized the use of marijuana to some extent.
“Countries like Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia,
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland,
Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, the Netherlands,
New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines, San Marino, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Uruguay,
Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, have legalized marijuana for legalized medicinal use.
While many other countries have legalized marijuana for recreational purposes which
includes Canada, Georgia, South Africa, and Uruguay, plus 11 states, 2 territories, and the
District of Columbia in the United States and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia.”1

1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis
https://lexinsider.com/legalisation-of-marijuana-in-india-overview/
Legalization will increase taxation and revenue to the Government and provide an additional
source of income to thousands of farmers. The revenue by legalization of cannabis and taxing
it will ultimately reduce the costs of buying for the end user as well because drug dealers in
the black markets tend to sell the drugs at a very high or at arbitrary prices. It will help in
eliminating the Black market production. There will also be quality control if the process of
sale and consumption is legalized.

Consumption of Alcohol is more harmful than marijuana, In 2008, research on marijuana’s

risk to health commissioned by nonpartisan British cerebrate tank the Beckley Substratum
found: The public health impact of contemporary patterns of cannabis use are modest by
comparison with those of other illicit drugs (such as the opioids) or with alcohol. In the
former case this reflects the absence of fatal overdose risk from cannabis. In the latter case, it
reflects the much lower risks of death from cannabis than alcohol also impaired driving and
fewer unpropitious effects on health.

According to various researches and studies it has been proven that cannabis and its
derivatives have dozons of medical benefits. According to UCLA researchers people who
smoke marijuana have lower incidences of cancer compared to non-users, leading them to
conclude marijuana might have a protective cells against cancer. Studies have found that
tobacco is responsible for 30% of all cancer deaths in U.S. and 87% of lung cancer deaths.
Whereas there has never been single documented case of a marijuana-only smoker
developing lung cancer as result of his/her marijuana consumption.

It will become a great source of income for the locals where cannabis plants grow, where
marijuana is the only source of income ultimately leading to increase the Indian economy.
Consumers tend to poses a threat of exposed to illegal/ impure marijuana as illegal dealers do
not ask for ID and sell the unregulated and impure product. Legalization will improve the
quality of marijuana sold to consumers as the legalization will lead to setting up of rules and
regulation for production and selling the drug.