Legalizing Ganja
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: September 11, 2013 -

An interesting news report that most of our esteemed readers might have missed on account of the recent cease work strike by the newspaper hawkers who refused to distribute the printed newspaper copies to the public following threat from a UG group, but, nonetheless, important and calls for serious discussion, was the proposal of the Central Government to legalize cultivation of Ganja (Marijuana) in Manipur on large scale for export and use in safer and useful ways.

Known by different names like ‘grass’, ‘pot’, ‘weed’, ‘hash’, etc, Ganja is a banned drug/substance under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, which was enacted in 1985.

Before that Manipur has known, consumed and celebrated Ganja for millennia, and, of course, it still does even today despite the ban, though in a surreptitious manner.

With the quality of the Ganja produced in Manipur regarded as the best with great medicinal values, the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India entrusted the officials of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) posted in the State to submit a detailed report on the cultivation of Ganja in Manipur, suitability of climatic condition and soil, and its usage.

What must be in the report that the CSIR officials submitted to the Central authority, we may not need any elaboration here.

In a State like Manipur where the problem of widespread drug abuse among the youths has come to pose a serious danger on the well-being of the society, the proposal of the Central Government to legalize plantation and export of Marijuana on large scale would surely face steep opposition from the various civil society organizations, which are trying hard to save the youths from the clutches of drug menace.

They may also have a lot to say on the ill-effect and impact of legalizing Ganja as have seen in some of the countries around the globe where Ganja has been decriminalized for recreational as well as medical purposes.

However, one needs to understand how the cultivation of Ganja has been going on in Manipur unhindered despite the ban all these years right under the nose of the Government agencies and the same civil society organizations.

Moreover, Ganja is not drug in the true sense of the term. Medically, it has been proven that Ganja is less harmful than alcohol and Caffeine is supposed to be just as addictive as Ganja.

Thus, clubbing together of Ganja with other hard-killer drugs like smack, heroin, cocaine, crack, etc, under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, which had been actually enacted under pressures from the US, which was then campaigning for a global law against all drugs, both hard and soft, was a fatal flaw.

Perhaps, it’s time to amend the NDPS Act and revisit the ban and welcome the proposal for legalization of Ganja at least for medical purposes, if not for recreational purposes, which most campaigns for legalization of Ganja hint at.