9781422276945

Wild & Free

Marijuana is native to India. This means that it grew naturally there before people began growing it as a crop for medicinal and recreational use. This contrasts with places like the United States and Canada, where marijuana doesn’t naturally grow. It must be farmed and cared for. If you find a field of marijuana in a U.S. forest, you can be certain that someone planted it there.

There is a small, but growing, movement to legalize marijuana in India across its provinces. In late 2017, a bill was introduced to India’s parliament to distinguish marijuana from harder drugs like opium or cocaine. If this bill passes, it would remove the current penalties and put systems in place to regulate both medical and recreational use . China In China, the possession and sale of marijuana is technically illegal. But the enforcement of these laws is somewhat lax. While people don’t openly share that they use marijuana, they may do so in secret—taking precautions not to get noticed by law enforcement. In China, on the whole, using drugs is considered dishonorable. In a culture where honor is important, cities and communities may continue to call it illegal “on the books” to maintain their honor. But at the same time, they often turn a blind eye if people who sell and use it are discreet. In cases where low-level drug offenders are prosecuted (punished), mandatory drug rehabilitation is the most common penalty. In fact, by many accounts, smoking marijuana openly is really not that big of a deal as long as a person doesn’t walk around saying, “I’m smoking illegal drugs.” China’s system may seem contradictory (not logical) to an outsider. But it seems to work for them. There are currently no open talks in China about legalizing marijuana in the future.

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