Alliance Francaise

cannabis plant

marijuana

Viki Varoura

The 4-hr conference at, headed by Rick Simpson, stressed on the medicinal uses of theArriving at the venue one could be overwhelmed by the advertising outside the auditorium, one sign board stating: Trillion dollar crop, billions of lives changed, millions of jobs created and thousands of applications. You might be excused for thinking they are overselling the benefits ofThe positive response for the initiative drew people from all walks of life including doctors and activists to 20-something collegegoers who probably bought that ‘God made grass, man made booze. Who do you trust?’ t-shirt just for the conference. A highly-strung woman, Vanitha, had travelled all the way from Mumbai because her brother had been diagnosed with cancer and been advised to start chemotherapy in a week. She wanted to know if she could obtain some hemp oil to start his treatment, only to be disappointed when told they didn’t have any.The conference began with— the 23-year-old man behind the Great Legalisation Movement, India — taking the stage to lead the audience through a quick presentation informing them of the last 10,000 years of the history of cannabis use. Not being the most eloquent of orators, his presentation, which consisted of information that was available online seemed to drone on a little. Although shedding light on fun facts about Henry Ford’s hemp car, the constitution of the USA being printed on hemp paper, and that Queen Victoria smoked pot for menstrual cramps. He also brought to light the activities of the Henry Anslinger and the American government in the early 20th century that demonised the plant and made it illegal — even showing clips from the propaganda film Reefer Madness.He finally invited Rick Simpson, who has been instrumental in medical cannabis research and has been one of the biggest proponents of the legalisation movement across the world, on stage. Simpson who treated his own cancer with hemp oil spoke of his journey helping people with cancer, diabetes and other illnesses by giving them oil for free, while also illustrating its medical properties and other uses.He joked that the old side-effect of using the plant was “a dry mouth which can be cured by a glass of water”. He was met with applause when he questioned how the plant, which has been an integral part of Indian culture trough spiritual practice and healing through Ayurveda was made illegal in the first place.“A lot of people are afraid of getting high. But there is nothing to be afraid off. It doesn’t harm you. Just enjoy the ride,” was his final message before the audience were let out for a break.During the second half of the conference, Simpson instructed attendees on how to produce the oil and stressed on the benefits of using sedative cannabis indica over sativa in producing the oil. He even showed how household goods like rice-cookers could aid in making the healing oil. He showed testimonials of people who had been cured or had loved ones who benefited from using the oil.When the floor was opened to the audience to ask questions, a common query was where one could procure the buds and how someone could differentiate between a good bud and bad. Simpson replied: “Try smoking it or ask a friend who smokes.” He strongly propagated growing your own cannabis.Shekhar, a cardiographer who had organised a medical marijuana conference in 1968 when it was still legal, brought to light the law that stated that it is legal to grow cannabis if one procured an excise license and urged all the attendees to do so.The highlight of the night was when one woman, a naturalist, stated that she had learnt how to cook cannabis with mutton and chicken through YouTube videos and stated that she eats it with her salad and is growing a plant…she received a round of cheers. The evening concluded with Varoura saying there were plans to approach the government for permission to grow cannabis and conducting studies in about a month, after they were done with their run of conferences.Among the people attending was Dr Sudhir Salunky, who works at the Indian Institute of Telemedicine, who first heard of the oil while working in the US. “I had melanin pigmentation and depression, which I cured by using hash oil,” he stated.Dr Shilpa Rao, a paediatrician and oncologist, who came to conference wanting to know more about the use of cannabis for her patients who had epileptic seizures was hopeful about what she had seen but was turned off by the anti-medicine stance Simpson took.“I don’t see how it can replace medicines entirely. More studies need to be done to find out the right dosage for different diseases. They need to work in sync with doctors. If they attack my profession, why would I support them?” she questioned while also stating that it was hard for her patients to procure cannabis.Vani Murthy, who is a proponent of sustainable living and who lost her mother to cancer expressed interest in growing medical-grade plants in her garden stating that “we have every right to grow medicine”.The conference showed that the seed has ruptured and it may be time to help it nourish and let the legalisation movement take root.