India is one of the biggest consumers of cannabis in the world. It has been used in India since 2000 B.C. A 2019 study conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences reported that about 7.2 million Indians had consumed cannabis within the past year. However, even though marijuana is used legally for recreational purposes in many parts of the world now, it is still illegal in India. Even though medical marijuana can be bought with a prescription in many places of the world, India still lacks the backing to open a weed dispensary. However a new clinic named HempCann Solutions was started in Bangalore on February this year. It is an Odisha-based startup that sells tablets and oils made from the plant. Going by the name Vedi Herbals, the company has also built a wellness centre or clinic to prescribe tablets made from cannabis for treating anxiety, inflammation and back pain.
Even though according to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act the flowers and resins of the cannabis plant are illegal in India, hemp plants or the leaves and seeds of the cannabis plant are not.
“The THC measure in most cannabis plants used to make hemp powder or CBD oils found in the western part of the world is usually not more than 3%, but that measure may be higher in India since marijuana grows in the wild here or only at specific government research centres.”, Aayushman Narayan, the business development executive at HempCann told VICE. He further adds, “Our bodies produce cannabinoids naturally and so does cannabis, which is the fundamental basis of using cannabis as a medicine. So, since cannabis is already included in Ayurveda, it earned us ratification from India’s Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy (AYUSH).”
Hence HempCann has procured the legal backing to establish a hemp-based clinic where cannabis-based medicines would be produced and used for treatment.
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