Cannabis legalization varies across the United States, with 18 states and Washington, DC, having legalized the substance over the past decade. Although weed has been legalized in the nation’s capital, it remains illegal at the federal level.
However, last month US Senate leaders introduced the Cannabis Stewardship and Opportunity Act which sought to decriminalize cannabis at the federal level and allow states to set their own cannabis laws without government pressure central
The new law would basically:
According to the Pew Research Center, a solid majority of the American public agrees that responsible users of marijuana should not be treated as criminals. More than 90% of Americans now support the legalization of marijuana, of which 60% also support recreational use, the highest percentage of support ever reported in a scientific poll at the national level.
Although, even if the bill were to somehow pass, it is unclear whether President Biden would sign it.
The US president has spoken out about mass incarceration in the past, during his campaign, saying that cannabis crimes should not land people in prison. Soon after, the White House fired his staff early in Biden’s term for using cannabis, earning the president criticism from marijuana legalization advocates.
When asked about Biden’s two cents on the new cannabis bill, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Biden’s position on marijuana legalization has not changed and that the president did not support federal drug decriminalization.
United States Sentencing Commission prison data covering the period 2015-2021 reveals that 5,117 are currently incarcerated for marijuana possession, all of whom are serving sentences of more than 2 years.
A record number of arrests even as more states legalize marijuana: According to NORML, America’s oldest group advocating for the decriminalization of cannabis, even as more US states legalize it, there were 6,606 marijuana-related arrests last year. That was a 25 percent increase from the previous year, when the feds reported 4,992 arrests, according to data compiled by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. The totals are the highest reported by the agency since 2011.
According to the NORML Truth Report, while not all people arrested are sentenced to long prison terms, the fact is that the repercussions of a cannabis arrest alone are significant, including (but not limited to) :
“We are concerned that the last decade of cannabis-related incarceration is slowly being undone by this unnecessary and unjust crusade. We implore the Biden Administration to divert this time, energy and money to the pursuit of ending federal prohibition and the release of federal cannabis prisoners.”
– Sarah Gersten, executive director of the Last Prisoner project and general counsel
In other words, whether or not cannabis offenders end up in prison, hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens have their lives needlessly destroyed each year just for using cannabis.
What is it like in India? Here in India, cannabis has had a long history of cultivation, consumption and trade. The consumption and sale of cannabis was common place for most of the last century until India inevitably succumbed to pressure from the United Nations, after which it was banned and remains so to this day. days
Under the Psychotropic Drugs and Substances Act (NDPS) 1985, the following forms of cannabis have been banned:
It’s easy to confuse CBD oil with cannabis oil or hashish oil (the latter is in the news with Brittney Griner’s arrest), but the two are very different, both pharmacologically and regarding legal treatment: Cannabis oil or hashish, unlike CBD oil, is 100% narcotic and is subject to strict monitoring and control in India under the provisions of the NDPS Act.
While those who advocate for the legalization of cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes are constantly growing in number with each passing day, a much more bleak reality exists where these laws systematically target and punish the lowest social strata, instead, and s should argue for the elimination of these archaic and misused laws, marijuana advocates believe.
A class issue: Amrit Kumar, a lawyer practicing in the Delhi and Patna High Courts, receives more than 20 cannabis-related cases a year, of which almost every case involves a person from marginalized or working-class communities.
“The complete law, both from the substantive and procedural aspects, is hermetic and does not allow any room for interpretation. Once a complaint has been made, it is very difficult to explain innocence. The act is more of a barbaric era than a modern democratic one,” he tells DailyO.
According to Kumar, it is easier for police officials to circumvent the legal process in cases of lower class people as they have no resources and no education, no knowledge of their legal rights. “Simply outlawing cannabis does not give the authorities the power to break down the wall of law and restrict the privacy and freedom of any individual, regardless of their background,” he says.
According to the Vidhi Center for Legal Policy, a Delhi-based legal think tank, a prohibitionist environment leads people to unsafe practices and the black market where the quality of substances is not monitored, leading to adulteration. Cannabis in India is known to be adulterated with substances such as benzodiazepine, a prescription sedative, which can lead to sedative addiction without the person’s knowledge or consent.
Large-scale stigmatization of the effects of cannabis, rather than access to safe use practices, often leads to the consumption of multiple toxic substances, including alcohol, the effects of which are almost always equated to the effects of relatively harmless from cannabis.
A promising model: Sikkim offers a promising model of indigenous decriminalization. The Sikkim Anti-Drug Act, 2006 (SADA) does not use deterrence to curb drug use and is based on a public health approach to protect the best interests of a drug user. The Vidhi Center further recommends in its report that India should completely decriminalize the use of cannabis and adopt a public health approach to address addiction and consumption.
“I would personally express myself as a supporter of the legalization of cannabis with strict direction and regulation for its sale and purchase. Simply citing strict laws would only be resorting to prejudice instead of progressive thinking,” says Kumar.
While Thailand joins the list of Southeast Asian countries making progress with decriminalization, the road to legalization is still an uphill one for most countries, including India.
