Ban on cannabis is harming millions; it must be lifted: Viki Vaurora

The activist argues for complete legalisation, pointing to cannabis’s therapeutic properties, industrial applications, and historical significance.

Viki Vaurora.

For a decade now, the Bengaluru-based Great Legalisation Movement India (GLM India) has been championing the cause of farmers cultivating cannabis and campaigning for legalising the drug that it claims can pave the way for replacing thousands of ecologically damaging products with sustainable hemp-based alternatives. The non-profit organisation has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in this regard. In an interview with Frontline, Viki Vaurora, GLM India’s founder, who has been keenly studying the scientific literature on cannabis research for years, shared his thoughts on the ongoing discourse. Excerpts:

What does the latest medical research on the therapeutic effects of cannabis reveal?

There are several peer-reviewed papers that conclude that cannabis is a great muscle relaxant and anti-inflammatory agent. These properties help with all the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disorder, for instance. The immunosuppressant properties of Cannabis indica help manage autoimmune disorders by reducing the body’s overactive immune response. A number of people who have used cannabis for various health issues, including those with MS, have posted their success stories on social media after figuring out a way to do so amidst the online censorship on the banned drug.

Could you explain how the two main psychotomimetic agents in cannabis—delta- 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD)—work on our body’s cellular receptors?

THC and CBD are just two of the 100-plus cannabinoids and over 450 medicinal compounds found in the cannabis flower that we call ganja in India. Our body has many receptors for various hormones or signals produced by our organs, including the brain. Our mental state and physical activity depend upon the secretion of these hormones, which are received by receptors throughout the body. There is a compound produced by the brain when we are happy and stress-free. It is called ‘anandamide’, derived from the Sanskrit word ananda or bliss. The activation of its receptors creates harmony in many biological processes aiding the body.

Surprisingly, scientists discovered that the only other compound that naturally works in activating the same receptor is THC, found in the ganja flower. This was a ground-breaking discovery showing us the uses of the cannabis flower for human health. Politicians and big businesses have failed to acknowledge this and portray THC as a useless compound that only gives the user a euphoric high.

There is scientific suppression and pharmaceutical dominance that is clearly at play here.

Cannabis has been grown and used for millennia in India, with the scriptures describing it as a “source of happiness”. Could you give us a few references that reflect the cultural significance of this plant in our history?

Cannabis has been referred to as vijaya, jaya, ganja, anandamuli, bhanga and kencha, in various texts, cultures and languages of India. It has been used in Ayurveda for thousands of years. It has been called a sacred plant in the Vedas. It has been a part of many sects of Shaivism: of Aghoris, Nagas and Santhas. It is also commonly used in a milk-based drink during the Holi festival in parts of India, as well as to beat the desert heat in Rajasthan’s summers. My reading on the subject for over 15 years has barely scratched the surface of indigenous knowledge on cannabis in medicinal contexts. But I have personally experienced the therapeutic effects of this plant that Ayurveda talks about. It is, when used correctly, of great benefit to the body and mind. Its pain-relieving properties are unparalleled.

Could you talk us through the drug laws formulated globally through history that finally criminalised cannabis in India in 1985?

It all started in the US in the 1920s when the authorities wanted to wage a communal war against their own people. They found a substance that was often used by the African-American community and the Mexicans and made attempts to criminalise cannabis for the first time. The plant came to be called marijuana, and [the authorities] invested heavily in convincing the public that this was a dangerous plant brought in by Mexicans to ruin the lives of young Americans. They waged a war on [cannabis] like never before, and ensured it was heavily penalised by government agencies, and they forced every other country to do the same.

India did not pass any law against cannabis until the 1980s. Under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985 was passed, which allowed the government to ban the cultivation, use, and trade of cannabis in India. A heavy penalty was imposed. The Great Legalisation Movement India became the first voice seeking a repeal of the prohibition. I want the plant to be free like it was before. Now people are being arrested and sent to jail for years for no good reason.

It is sad how laws, mindlessly copied from international conventions in the name of the “war on drugs”, have succeeded in sabotaging a culture and branding cannabis a dangerous drug. Everyone must first question why the government is so worried about a safe drug like cannabis but has spent over 60 years licensing and thereby promoting a very dangerous drug such as alcohol—a disruptive, unhealthy, consciousness-limiting, violence-inducing substance.

Uttarakhand and some other States have resolved to legalise cannabis cultivation for medicinal and industrial purposes. However, the legal status of the cultivation and use of various parts of the plant is unclear. Could you explain the legal and regulatory status for the reader?

Cannabis cannot be abused. It cannot harm the mind or the body or society. On the contrary, its flowers are medicinal. Its seeds are the most balanced nutritional powerhouse. Its fibres are the strongest and can replace polyester and other synthetic fabrics that harm the environment.

In Uttarakhand, they want the plant to produce no THC—limit it to less than 0.3 per cent. But we do not even have such a variety in cannabis. It is not the purpose of cannabis. And a farmer who seeks a licence in Uttarakhand does not have the ability to source hemp seeds with only 0.3 per cent THC. There cannot be a good policy around medical cannabis or industrial cannabis-hemp in India until the petition we have filed in the Delhi High Court succeeds to bring about much-needed change.

Startups in India sell cannabis-based wellness products online.

Startups offering medicinal cannabis have been proliferating in India. What are your views?

It is shameful that the government is arresting countless people in the name of cannabis control while allowing rich, privileged kids to sell cannabis-based wellness products in the name of startup ventures. After all, these products still contain THC, prohibited in the NDPS Act. If they [the government] want to allow this trade to continue, they should either free all the people who are in prison or arrest most of the [people associated with] companies that have sold products that contain THC.

These packaged products have extremely poor medical efficacy as well. Doctors are enticed to issue prescriptions and steer patients into becoming customers of these brands, and neither [the doctors or the startups] has any experience with cannabis therapy. What could have been a free and effective substance is now expensive and inefficient at curing any disease.

Do you believe that the penalties imposed today are too harsh and outdated?

Yes. Absolutely. Imagine you want to grow a plant that is essentially indigenous medicine and you are at risk of being branded a drug addict, mandated to attend therapy in government-run de-addiction centres, have your house torn apart, be charged in a non-bailable offence whose trial can run for years, and maybe even be jailed for up to 10 years. The law prohibiting cannabis is highly illogical, unscientific, arbitrary, and unjust. That is why it is important that we win the case we have filed in the Delhi High Court, Great Legalisation Movement India v/s Union of India.

There is, however, a genuine and rampant problem of drug abuse in India. How can the government prevent drug abuse?

By building a positive association with drugs, but the real question is which drugs? A simple understanding of the effects of various drugs will provide the answer. Basically, what needs to be understood for effective prevention is: which drugs are natural and which ones are man-made and synthetic? The scientific community has been shouting from the rooftops that cannabis is safe. And yet policymakers are controlled by pharmaceutical industries whose wealth is going to be crushed by the potential of a full-scale legalisation of cannabis.