India: Make cannabis consumption legal; ban is turning people alcoholic: BJD chief whip

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Tathagata Satpathy, the BJD’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, called for legalisation of cannabis consumption Thursday. It was not the first time the four-time MP has made this pitch, having done so on TV as well as during the previous monsoon session. His argument in the Lok Sabha Thursday was that banning cannabis consumption has led to increase in alcoholism.

“In the villages of my constituency, old people, venerable people used to smoke marijuana… natural marijuana. Today, by imposing ban on natural substances, which people have been using for ages, from the time of Lord Shiva, we have actually forced a lot of these people to move on to alcohol,” Satpathy said.

“Bhang was a very common intoxicant in the holy city of Puri. You could get it on the roadside. It was legally available there. It is available in Varanasi also. You have made it illegal and it...

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