Cannabis in India: A State-by-State History

Pre-colonial roots: bhang, ganja, charas

The Atharvaveda lists bhanga among five sacred plants whose 'guardian spirit' releases anxiety ^[1] Strong evidence. Whether that bhanga is Cannabis sativa or another plant is debated by Sanskritists, but by the medieval period the identification is unambiguous: the Sushruta Samhita and later Ayurvedic compendia describe vijaya / bhanga preparations for digestion, sleep and analgesia ^[2] Weak / limited.

Three distinct preparations crystallised and still structure Indian usage today:

• Bhang — paste or drink made from leaves and seeds, low potency, consumed socially and in Shaivite ritual.
• Ganja — dried flowering tops of female plants, smoked.
• Charas — hand-rubbed resin, historically associated with Himalayan production (Parvati Valley, Malana, Kashmir).

Mughal-era accounts and Persian travelogues describe widespread bhang consumption across north India, particularly around Holi and Maha Shivaratri ^[3] Strong evidence. The popular claim that 'Shiva smoked ganja' is a folk image, not a textual one — the Puranas describe Shiva consuming bhang, not smoking flower Anecdote.

The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94

After temperance lobbying in the British Parliament alleged that hemp drugs were driving Indians insane, the colonial government convened the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission. Its 1894 report — seven volumes, roughly 3,500 pages, 1,193 witnesses across British India and princely states — remains the most thorough single study of cannabis use ever conducted ^[4] Strong evidence.

Key findings, in the Commission's own words:

• Moderate use of hemp drugs is 'practically attended by no evil results at all.'
• Excessive use 'may produce' injurious effects but is comparatively rare.
• Total prohibition is 'neither necessary nor expedient,' would cause hardship to bhang users, and would push consumers to alcohol or worse drugs.

The Commission also documented sharp regional variation: ganja was a major excise commodity in Bengal; bhang dominated in the Northwest Provinces (modern UP) and Rajputana; charas flowed in from Yarkand into Punjab and Kashmir ^[4]. The often-repeated online claim that the IHDC 'recommended legalisation' is a simplification — it recommended regulated taxation, which was already the colonial policy Disputed.

From independence to the NDPS Act

Post-1947 India kept the colonial excise system. Cannabis remained legal and taxed under state excise departments for decades. India successfully resisted US pressure to ban cannabis under the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, negotiating a 25-year transition and a definition that excluded 'leaves and seeds' — the bhang loophole that survives to this day ^[5] Strong evidence.

That transition ended with the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, passed under Rajiv Gandhi's government during a wave of international drug-war alignment ^[6] Strong evidence. The Act:

• Prohibits ganja (flowering tops) and charas (resin).
• Explicitly excludes leaves and seeds from the definition of 'cannabis (hemp).'
• Delegates regulation of bhang to state governments.

This is why bhang shops are legal storefronts in some states and bhang is sold from the back of a paan stall in others — the federal law is silent, the state excise rules are not.

State-by-state: where the law actually lands

Legality, enforcement and cultural status diverge sharply by state. Documented patterns include:

• Uttar Pradesh — Government-licensed bhang shops (theka) under the UP Excise Act. Particularly visible in Varanasi, Mathura, Vrindavan. Ganja and charas heavily policed ^[7] Strong evidence.
• Rajasthan — Licensed bhang shops, especially in Pushkar, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur. Bhang ki goli and thandai sold openly during Holi.
• Madhya Pradesh — Bhang legal under state excise; the state has historically run cannabis cultivation contracts for excise supply.
• Odisha — Notable for high per-capita ganja consumption surveys; ganja remains illegal but socially normalised in some districts ^[8] Weak / limited.
• Uttarakhand — In 2018 became the first Indian state to license commercial industrial hemp cultivation under the NDPS state-rule carve-out ^[9] Strong evidence.
• Himachal Pradesh — Malana and Parvati Valley charas are world-famous; cultivation is illegal but de facto entrenched, with periodic eradication drives. A state legislative committee in 2023–24 recommended studying regulated medicinal cultivation ^[10][evidence:reported].
• Jammu & Kashmir / Ladakh — Historic charas-producing region; under heavy enforcement.
• West Bengal — Major historical ganja excise zone under the British; today ganja is illegal and prosecuted, but bhang circulates informally.
• Maharashtra, Gujarat — Bhang's status is ambiguous; Gujarat's broader prohibition regime extends informally.
• Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka — Among the strictest enforcement in practice. Kerala's excise department conducts frequent operations; ganja trafficked in from Andhra Pradesh's 'Agency areas' (notably the Alluri Sitharama Raju district forests) ^[11][evidence:reported].
• Andhra Pradesh — The eastern ghats around the former Visakhapatnam Agency are India's largest illicit ganja-producing belt; eradication operations run annually.
• Sikkim, Northeast states — Cultural use among certain communities; legal status follows NDPS, enforcement is uneven.

The practical upshot: a tourist drinking bhang lassi in Pushkar and a farmer growing the same plant 800 km south in Andhra are operating under wildly different legal realities.

Modern reform debate

Reform discussion has accelerated since the mid-2010s. Notable moments:

• 2015–17: MP Tathagata Satpathy and later Dr. Dharamvira Gandhi publicly called for cannabis decriminalisation ^[12][evidence:reported].
• 2017: The Ministry of AYUSH approved limited cannabis-based research under CSIR-IIIM Jammu.
• 2020: Delhi High Court admitted a PIL challenging the NDPS Act's classification of cannabis; the case is ongoing.
• 2023: Himachal Pradesh's assembly committee on cannabis legalisation submitted recommendations to study medicinal and industrial use.

No state has legalised recreational ganja or charas. The realistic near-term reforms are industrial hemp licensing (Uttarakhand model) and medicinal extracts under AYUSH/Ayurvedic frameworks. Claims circulating on social media that 'India is about to legalise weed' are not supported by any tabled bill No data.

Myths worth retiring

A few persistent claims that don't survive contact with primary sources:

• 'Cannabis was always legal in India until the Americans forced the NDPS Act.' Partly true. India did resist, and US pressure was real, but the 1985 Act was also driven by domestic anxieties about heroin trafficking through the Golden Crescent ^[6] Strong evidence.
• 'The Vedas say Shiva smoked ganja.' No Vedic or Puranic text describes smoking — pipes for tobacco-style smoking only arrived in India post-Columbian exchange. Bhang drinking is what's textually attested Disputed.
• 'Malana cream is the world's best hashish, judged by High Times.' High Times Cannabis Cup awards to Malana cream are repeatedly cited online but the specific awards and years are murky in primary records Anecdote.
• 'Bhang is non-psychoactive because it's just leaves.' False. Bhang preparations contain THC; potency is lower than flower but pharmacologically active Strong evidence.

Sources

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