HOLI: THE BIG BHANG THEORY

The Bhaishajya Ratanavali, a catalogue of 4,000-yearold Ayurvedic formulations, prescribes cannabis as a treatment for epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and several other conditions, says Dr Navin Joshi, a Dehradunbased MD in Ayurveda who is a consultant to Uttarakhand’s AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) department. While various degrees of legalisation across several American states have made the sale of cannabis a $5 billion business in the US, in India, it’s only around Holi that weed attains a thin veneer of respectability. For now. Last year, Himachal Pradesh invited the Bombay Hemp Company (BOHECO) to help put a stop to the rampant, illegal cultivation of cannabis by creating a legitimate market for it. “They were looking at cannabis as a problem, when in fact it is a solution,” says BOHECO co-founder Yash Kotak. In 2015, the state government of Uttarakhand showcased a strong intent to allow cannabis cultivation if certain scientific standards and requirements were fulfilled. Over the past several months, other government stakeholders have been asking BOHECO, which has tied up with the CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, to research medical applications for the plant.

It’s a sensible approach, says former Narcotics Commissioner of India Romesh Bhattacharji, who points out that cannabis grows wild in about 400 of the 700-odd districts of India. “I have personally observed its medicinal use on humans and animals in the country’s northern hinterland. In urban parts, too, medicinal use of cannabis is increasing where conventional medicine seems to be failing,” he says. Meanwhile, medical cannabis is more than just tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC—the psychoactive ingredient that gets you high and can be synthesised artificially. Cannabis contains other active ingredients, including terpenes and other cannabinoids, which can only be extracted from the dried leaves and flowers of the herb.

“Cannabis has the undeniable capacity to do good,” says Bhattacharji. “If the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act has failed to restrain the black market trade of cannabis, it’s time it’s reformed, for people are using medical cannabis, getting relief and sometimes getting cured.”