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Total Recall : Reviving Cultural Use Exemptions in Drug Law

Total Recall : Reviving Cultural Use Exemptions in Drug Law. Using the Law for Change Oral Abstract Session International AIDS Conference, Vienna 19 July 2010 Tripti Tandon. The “ harm ” of drugs?. A Culture of Tolerance ... South Asia reports long standing use of Opium & Cannabis

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Total Recall : Reviving Cultural Use Exemptions in Drug Law

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  1. Total Recall: Reviving Cultural Use Exemptions in Drug Law

    Using the Law for Change Oral Abstract Session International AIDS Conference, Vienna 19 July 2010 TriptiTandon
  2. The “harm” of drugs? A Culture of Tolerance ... South Asia reports long standing use of Opium & Cannabis Grown locally Used for social, cultural, religious,medical & recreational purposes Use sanctioned & controlled by community Excessive or problematic use was rare
  3. PROHIBITION – an ‘alien’ legacy
  4. ‘Commercial' drug use Late 18th century, British Colonial Govt introduced: Licensing of poppy cultivation Control over opium trade Tax on domestic use Expansion in areas growing poppy Opium remained one of India’s top exports & source of revenueuntil 1920s No policy on Cannabis
  5. Profit or Prohibition? House of Commons debates… “…growth, sale & traffic in poppy is a disgrace to our Christianity & our morality” “ If it be righteous to draw taxes from a gin-palace, it is equally righteous to do the same thing from an opium den. There is no wrong morally in taxing a spirit or in taxing a drug.” “ I hardly care to distinguish b/wopium, alcohol & ganja. I regard them all as bad. I am prepared to prohibit all three intoxicants on account of the evil which I see done by them all.”
  6. Evidence informed policy Inquiries into the “ill-effect” of drugs: Royal Commission on Opium (1893-95) Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1893-94) “Opium is not deleterious in reasonable moderation, and is…far less deleterious than alcoholic drink”. Witness, Opium Commission “There is no evidence of any weight regarding mental & moral injuries from the moderate use of these drugs………..regular, moderate use of Ganja or Bhang produces the same effects as moderate & regular uses of whiskey.” Indian Hemp Drug Commission
  7. Harm reduction then…. Practice of supplying opium to registered addicts Akin to present day heroin maintenanceprogrammes?
  8. International drug control Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 mandated drugs to be limited to medical & scientific use Time frame for banning traditional use: Opium smoking: 15 years Non medical use of Cannabis: 25 years India enacted the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in 1985 upon expiration of transitional period
  9. Cultural use concerns Parliamentarians’ question the NDPS Act: “Peasant keeps 5 to 10 gms in their houses. They use opium as medicine for their sick children. Even today this practice is in vogue in rural areas. Now, according to the law such peasants are culprits?” Keeping in view that the rural population of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar & parts of Orissa consume cannabis on special occasions,.. punishment [for consumption] is on the higher side”. “I am a consumer of poppy seeds [“posto”]. It is a delicacy in Bengal. ..i respectfully submit that necessary amendments be made in the Act”
  10. Prohibit, yet permit… The NDPS Act, 1985 : Prohibits: Consumption Possession (Except for medical & scientific use & in manner prescribed) Permits through delegated legislation: Possession, sale, purchase, consumption of opium Distribution of smokable opium to registered users Cultivation, possession, sale, purchase, consumption of cannabis (except cannabis resin) (State govts can enact Rules to enable the above)
  11. Exceptions to prohibition The NDPS Act, 1985 exempts forms of Cannabis: Ganja ( for 4 years) Bhang Courts exercise restraint in fixing penal liability : Possession Sevaramv State of Rajasthan 1993 CriLJ2503 ArjunSingh v State of Haryana 2005 Cri LJ 253 Growing Manjeev State of Rajasthan RLW 1996 (1) Raj. Alakh Ram v. State of U.P 2004 CriLJ905] 503
  12. State Amnesia…. Few State govts have Rules to allow cultural use No. of opium shops have declined as have the no. of registered users Penal aims overshadow regulatory powers
  13. Attempt to revive cultural use
  14. Desirable?.... do-able? Cultural use: why & how? Harm reduction Stigma reduction Alternative to criminalisation Pillar of drug policy reform Strategy for Revival: Legal? Political? Mobilisation of growers, users, or both?
  15. Both Indian and British history appear to have glossed over this part of colonial history. Absolutely. Opium was the fundamental undergirding of our economy for centuries. It is strange that [even] for someone like me who studied history and knew a fair amount of Indian history, was completely unaware of it. Why do you think that happened? I think the reason is some sort of whitewashing of the past.
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