Cannabis remains contraband in India, after the Bombay high court dismissed a petition filed in April to decriminalise its use, on the ground that the legislature, and not the court, was the appropriate forum for the challenge.
A bench of justices VM Kanade and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi dismissed advocate Aditya Barthakur’s petition that had produced evidence of the medicinal benefits of Cannabis, and ordered:
“We are afraid that this Court while exercising its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India cannot grant the reliefs…Apart from that, the Petitioner has produced certain technical data regarding useful effects of Ganja etc. We are afraid that we are not experts in the field and the Petitioner can raise this issue in the Parliament…”
Barthakur commented to Legally India: “If a plant can be banned without backing such ban with scientific, medical or logical reasons then why does the state not ban two and four wheelers, local trains, the state should also consider a ban on breathing as in doing so will prevent what happened to those who inhaled the poisonous gas (methyl isocyanate) during Bhopal Gas Leak. Born with the endocannabinoid system we are all fundamentally wired to consume cannabis.
He added that now he “need[ed] to recharge my batteries and in sometime will approach the Apex Court under article 32 of our Constitution”.
Comments
I hope the petitioner approaches the SC. I do not expect anything miraculous from the SC on this, but we can certainly hope that it will result in a positive outcome. If this attempt fails, perhaps many more will follow.
I think there is adequate evidence for the plant, if the courts still do not seem convinced they (and others) should read a book called "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" a seminal study by Jack Herrer on the relevance of cannabis / hemp.
Regulate, control and tax the product but stop with the prohibition! Its about time, the war on drugs has failed.
On point of going to Supreme Court yes I will. What I really meant by "...need to recharge my batteries..." is that I need to gather the funds (a separate fund solely for SC) for the journey to and fro and other expenses, as I have done all by myself what I did in this PIL before the Hon'ble Bombay High Court. I am not at all interested in getting financial help from those who will or might start to interfere in my work or question it only because they gave me financial assistance.
Need to be at Peace.....
I hope you know that a writ under article 32 cannot be filed before Supreme Court if your article 226 petition has been dismissed. *sigh*
Cheers!
Alternately, the international legalisation movement might also be a good source. I believe the first legalisation conference was organised in Bangalore sometime last year. I found out about it quite late. Perhaps you may know of it.
Any other thoughts on how you will fund the next part of the case?
Peace and Pot..
Praying to the Universe and Mother Nature, they should open up a door.
And as I have already mentioned the reason for why I do not wish to approach any1 on the topic is cause I fear there might be a few who would/might question my work or style or approach towards the cause. What if they also start asking me for accounts. No1 ever asked me how I managed this PIL.
I have also wondered about this, but may you or someone else knows, the rationale for permitting state licensed 'bhang' shops in some states such as MP, Rajasthan etc? Is it OK for states to make exception to federal law in this case (because bhang being a cannabis derivative would be equally banned under NDPS)?
Furthermore, if states are allowing the legal use of cannabis via bhang then should they not by exception permit use of pot and other derivatives (unless I have got it wrong and bhang is derived not from the flowering tops but other portions of the plant)? What is the rationale for permitting one and not the other?
I don't know if clear answers for the above are available, but this grey area could be further explored.
I also made the submission that now due to doctrine of Pith and Substance NDPS ACT 1985 prevails in Maharashtra. Earlier it was the Bombay Prohibition Act 1949 and that 66 years have passed and no1 knows why the plant is illegal. 20 years imprisonment on what constitutional grounds???
For me peace means pot....
That's one argument I raised when I argued and informed Hon'ble Court that it can grant me my prayers as prior to NDPS Act 1985, there was the Bombay Prohibition Act 1949 and 66 years have passed and no1 knows why the plant is illegal with such severe punishment. Now due to doctrine of Pith and Substance NDPS ACT 1985 prevails all over India. If you have read the PIL you will see no mention of the Bombay Prohibition Act anywhere. And when states create an exception as regards cannabis it will immediately attract the Medicinal and Toilets Preparation Act, which will come under central excise.
On the point of licensed cultivation..I do not support any license. An example of how no license ever works is a drivers license. A drivers license never guarantees that the person who holds it will not end up in an accident.
No license for growing mother nature, what say?
Be it bhang, ganja, charas/hasish they all contain cannabinoids essential for a healthy body(homeostasis).
http://www.legallyindia.com/Criminal-law/how-exactly-is-weed-legal-in-india-happy-holi-via-wsjindia
http://cbn.nic.in/html/NationalPolicyEnglish.pdf you can copy paste the link and read Para. 20
onwwards from Page No. 9. It is from the Central Board of Narcotics.
Yes the march to free gods greatest gift to humanity is going to be long one as even I am not quite sure when will humans wake up to the truth or at least show the courage to defy the science I produced in the PIL.