India Sides With UN Over Cannabis Reclassified As Medicinal Drug

Last updated on February 21st, 2023 at 12:29 pm

India Sides With UN Over Cannabis: The use of cannabis has been strictly controlled worldwide, due to its potent use as more of a narcotic than for medicinal purposes.  Trying to regulate its more positive usage, the UN in its 63th session has now decided to remove cannabis from the drug control list following a recommendation by the World Health Organisation (WHO).  This will be applicable to cannabis and cannabis related substances. 

India has supported the decision and is already gathering flake over it; because its own domestic laws against cannabis trafficking remains strict and tough.  

On a voting consensus, the UN Commission had 27 rule in favour against the 25 with one abstaining participation over a 53 member body.  The ones to agree included India, US, and the most of European Union while those against included China, Pakistan and Russia amongst others.  Ukraine is one nation which abstained from voting at all. The session was chaired by Pakistani diplomat Mansoor Ahmad Khan who holds the position of Pakistan Ambassador to Afghanistan. The UN’s special body the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) added Cannabis along with Heroine under the Section IV of the 1961 Convention on Narcotic Drugs. This was confirmed by the UN in a news release recently. 

The reclassification now brings Cannabis and its derivatives under Schedule I that now designates it as the least dangerous substances to be consumed.

Under India’s Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, the production, manufacture, possession, sale, purchase, transport, and use of cannabis is a punishable offence.

Charas, defined as “the separated resin, in whatever form, whether crude or purified, obtained from the cannabis plant”, is also covered by the NDPS Act.

The Vienna based CND was founded in 1946. Since then, the world’s perception about the substance has dramatically changed. Currently, over 50 countries allow medicinal cannabis programmes, and its recreational use has been legalised in Canada, Uruguay and 15 US states, according to an official statement by the UN.

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