NEW DELHI : India may have taken the first step toward the legalization of cannabis for industrial and medicinal uses.

The Delhi high court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Centre, challenging the prohibition and criminalization of the plant for industrial and medicinal purposes, while side-stepping similar demands for recreational use.

Uttarakhand has already spearheaded a movement to bring out cannabis in the open, permitting the cultivation of hemp over 1,000 hectares on a pilot basis in 2018 and the produce can only be sold to the government.

The Delhi high court notice to the Centre came on a public interest litigation (PIL) which challenges the legality of certain provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS), which bans the use of cannabis.

The petition was filed by the Great Legalization Movement India Trust which says it is at the forefront of the movement to decriminalize the use of cannabis and raise awareness with respect to its medicinal, industrial, ecological, economic and other benefits.

While the medicinal, industrial and recreational use of cannabis is still largely illegal in India, the plant is finding increasing acceptance elsewhere in the world.

The Dutch drug policy bases its legalization on the idea that “every human being may decide about the matters of their own health." It also justifies legalization on the premise that concealing it would make it “far more difficult to influence and control."

Canada and 11 states in the US have also legalized marijuana, including its recreational consumption.

The petitioner pointed to the medicinal properties of cannabis by citing various studies and argued that criminalizing its cultivation, possession and use was in violation of the right to life enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution, since the government had failed to consider its medicinal benefits while banning it.

“Since other countries have legalized cannabis, it doesn’t mean that we have to blindly follow the exact same pattern. In partnership with CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), we are undertaking research on indigenous cannabis strains in order to place scientific validation on what is traditionally and culturally known." Abhishek Mohan, director, HempStreet, India.

Cultivation of cannabis itself remains illegal in India. However the health ministry granted permission to CSIR for integrated research to grow the plant solely for medical purposes on a small piece of land in Jammu and Kashmir in April 2017. The research is ongoing as the scientists said marijuana can help make cancer drugs.

Neetu Chandra Sharma contributed to this story

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