Ganja-Charas, Alcohol, Tobacco - And Public Health

In my post of yesterday, I republished a 1998 newspaper debate I had conducted on cannabis legalisation between the head of the department of psychiatry in India's top teaching hospital and the chief of the narcotics bureau. The cop was just hot air and bluster so, today, let me begin with something the professor of psychiatry wrote - "it [cannabis] is a poor man’s intoxicant and by prohibiting it, we are inviting him to shift to alcohol."

Allow me to present some anecdotal evidence in support of this good doctor.

A year or so ago, while in Nude Elly, I was smoking a chillum with some friends when we were joined by a young lad of about 16. The smoke, of course, was no good - and so I launched into a bitter diatribe on the tyranny of cannabis prohibition. This young lad then spoke out - as follows:

Sir: I work as a labourer for daily wages of 140 rupees ($3). Every day, I spend 40 rupees on a packet of ganja. It makes just two chillums. I smoke those two chillums - but don't get any buzz at all.

What will this poor lad do other than switch to a "quarter" of some harsh IMFL liquor - which also costs 40 rupees? Remember, beer and wine are expensive in India because of taxation - and almost everyone in our country drinks hard liquor, especially the poor.

Doesn't hard liquor present our society with a bigger public health problem than ganja-charas? After all, alcohol is a systemic poison - and is closely associated with quite a few mental and physical diseases. The good doctor writes:

From the health angle, there is not even a single case of cannabis overdose death. Also, it does not cause any irreversible organ damage.... No plant product has been researched so thoroughly for its adverse impact than cannabis, with disappointing results.

The good doctor cites the Royal Hemp Commission of 1895 which came to India to study the reported "widespread use of cannabis" and "concluded that the drug was a mild euphoriant, had no addictive properties and posed no public health damage."

Now, contrast this harmless and useful herb with tobacco and hard liquor - that is, as a "public health issue." Think of the "masses" who smoke bidis and chew gutka - and drink their harsh "quarter bottles" of IMFL every evening.

Thus, this debate must no longer be a "freedom issue"; rather, it must be looked at as a "public health issue" - the point being that current policies are harming public health while legalising cannabis and removing all taxation on beer and wine (and toddy) would be in the best interests of all Indians.

At this point, let me turn to something the bad cop wrote:

...the underworld in the developed countries, notably in the US and the Netherlands, have been scientifically developing far more potent types of cannabis plants, often with more than 20 times the THC content than the traditional Indian hemp plant.... With these developments, can there be any standardization for regulated non-medical use, as it has been possible for alcohol?

As far as alcohol is concerned, it is clear, our The State prefers that we drink very hard stuff. What is wrong if we smoke very strong grass? On this point, let us refer to something the good doctor testified:

The difference between cannabis and other addictive drugs is that apart from being in the bloodstream, the excess is also absorbed and stored in body fat. Hence if consumed in excess, it is excreted slowly from the fatty tissues into the blood and out of the body. 

Thus, super-strong ganja-charas, with very high THC content, is nothing to fear. Let it roll. All that will happen is we will smoke less to get high - and thereby preserve our health. Nowadays, with the bull that is being sold, even 5 or 6 chillums a day do not deliver any buzz - and we must drink alcohol afterwards. Smoke some tobacco too. With super-strong ganja-charas, one small smoke will be enough. Nothing more will we need. Super-strong cannabis will improve our health.

Finally, since the good doctor talked about selling cannabis via "excise vends," let me say something about what I found in Orissa recently, where ganja is freely sold via such excise vends. Orissa is the only state in India where ganja is legal - because here The Masses are all smokers. Here, it is common to find grandfather, son and grandson smoking a chillum together. On a trip to a village outside Cuttack, I found 20-30 men seated around a big banyan tree, smoking chillums - and joined in the celebrations. There were 3 or 4 chaps among them who were selling the stuff - illegally, because the license to sell legally costs too much, and they prefer to pay bribes instead. And as for the excise vends:

Immediately upon arrival at Bhubaneshwar airport, I instructed my taxi driver to take me to the nearest excise vend for ganja. I bought some ganja and took it to my room to smoke - but it was terrible! I then went out and asked an auto-rickshaw driver where I could get some decent stuff - and he bought great ganja for me from an illegal dealer!

No, siree! Let us not have our The State selling ganja-charas. And let us go beyond Amsterdam, where branded products do not exist, and everything is under tight State control. In India, the home of the cannabliss indica, let there be Big Companies floated on the stock exchange - and let brands compete. Let brands guarantee quality. So, just as in tobacco or alcohol, the market is completely free. And we, the customers, are finally happy.

Oh! Cannabliss! 


Last point: The good doctor, while saying that The State can collect a lot of revenue from taxing cannabis (as the Brits did) also refers to this herb as "a worthless weed." Scientifically grown cannabis with super-high THC content will be THE CROP! - as I have argued elsewhere. A great CASH CROP! Let us celebrate cannabliss indica - and maybe then, instead of the tulsi, all homes will have a "holy" cannabis plant occupying pride of place in the centre of the courtyard.


BOOM SHANKAR!