The plan to allow cannabis plantation in Goa is taking shape with the file getting approvals from the Law and Excise Departments, and we wonder why Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is making a secret out of it. At a time when the State is looking to shrug off the tag of ‘narcotic hub’ in the tourism world, the move to legalise cannabis cultivation only opens up frightful vistas.
Under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985, production, trade and consumption of both cannabis resin (charas) and the bud (ganja) is illegal. Those found in possession could face up to 20 years imprisonment. However, certain State governments have granted licenses to farmers to cultivate cannabis exclusively for medicinal and industrial purposes, besides research. Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh have encouraged research and cultivation of cannabis with low THC content. Uttar Pradesh too joined the club with the sole aim of giving a push to the distressed farmers, and Manipur is set to join the club. The popular support for the plant’s legalization is steadily growing across India.
The major argument for legalizing cultivation is for its established link to cancer treatment. The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), a research body under the Ministry of AYUSH confirmed in 2018 the findings of a clinical study on cannabis being used as a restorative drug for cancer patients. The medical benefits are no longer a matter of debate, what is of concern the damaging socio-impact it could have in an unregulated market such as Goa.
Farmers will have to get a licence from the excise department to grow cannabis, and we may agree that there would be stringent systems in place. The bigger worry is that permitting cannabis cultivation will make the drug more accessible, expanding its misuse. Another concern is that in an unregulated market, those in cultivation could get lured by the higher returns on out-of-system sale.
While Goa ponders over the government's move to legalise cannabis plantation, the argument that narcotics would not spill over beyond the defined streams sounds hollow against the backdrop of State's machinery, including the anti-narcotic cell, consistently failing in plugging drug circulation. Drugs have lately started circulating in far-flung areas in the hinterland, and desi tourists and foreigners are increasingly growing cannabis in private properties and even terraces. Leave aside tourism, Goan society is battling evils like alcohol-abuse while the government struggles to keep pace with its tobacco and gutka bans. Allowing cultivation will drastically change the outlook towards drugs.
As the government goes through the motions of tweaking laws with cabinet approval, it has some explaining to do. Is it aimed to give a shot in the arm to the distressed farmer in the State? Or is it purely in keeping with the interests of a section of pharmaceutical companies and industrial units? Or does it have anything to do with the ambitious ‘atmanirbhar’ plans? Whatever the reasoning, it remains to be seen how the government distinguishes legalization and commercialization.
