In the second half of the new year, Canada would have joined only a handful of countries around the world where recreational marijuana is legal. It is significant because votaries of medical marijuana – cannabis used for medical reasons, particularly for pain alleviation – are many, including US surgeon general Dr Jerome Adams but recreational marijuana is an entirely different ballgame.
In India though recreational marijuana has a long history – the best known marijuana afficionado in India is Lord Shiva. While his love for bhang is the stuff of religious lore, it is illegal to produce/manufacture/cultivate, possess, sell, purchase, transport, store, and/or consume any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance in India. That was not the case as late as 1985 when the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act was passed.
Cannabis use was so common in India in the 19th century that the British set up a Indian Hemp Drug Commission to examine the issue. The report finalised in 1894 and presented to the House of Commons concluded: “It has been clearly established that the occasional use or hemp in moderate doses may be beneficial; but this use may be regarded as medicinal in character. It is rather to the popular and common use of the drugs that the Commission will now confine their attention. It is convenient to consider the effects separately as affecting the physical, mental, or moral nature.”
Cannabis leaves, seeds and stems have an intoxicating effect and are also used for medicinal purposes. The active ingredient in marijuana is THC, or tetrahydrocannibinol that is responsible along with some other constituents, for the high one experiences after smoking pot. There are many forms in which it can be consumed – smoking (ganja, charas, hashish), in the form of bhang in liquids. In India some forms are used for religious rituals too.
However, irrespective of what form it gets into the body in, marijuana, like nicotine affects every system of the body but its effects are most acute on the nervous system. Which is why the effects are the fastest when it is smoked.The haze could last upto three-four hours.
One of the immediate, sometimes noticeable effects of smoking pot is an increase in heart rate. The effects can last for upto three hours and can be as much as double the normal heart rate, increasing the chances of a heart attack post marijuana use. There can be effects on blood sugar, blood pressure and even higher risks of lung cancer according to some. It can also, like alcohol slow down your faculties and render you unfit for driving.
The user can be dizzy, have red eyes, dilated pupils but what anyone who has ever drank bhang or smoked ganja will tell you, s/he does have an appetite.
It is addictive which is why long time users can exhibit withdrawal symptoms such as cravings, irritability, sleeplessness, and less appetite when off the substance.
