Biden looks at prisoner swap for Brittney Griner, but what about his own stand on cannabis?

Following American women's basketball star Brittney Griner's nine-year prison sentence in Russia for possessing hash oil, the US government has opened negotiations regarding a prisoner swap. While the Biden administration is working hard to secure her release, here is a better picture involving cannabis-related crimes in the States.

Cannabis legalisation varies across the United States, with 18 states and Washington, DC, legalising the substance in the past decade. Though weed has been legalised in the nation’s capitol, it remains illegal at the federal level.

However, last month, US Senate leaders introduced the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act that sought decriminalisation of cannabis on the federal level and allowed states to set their own cannabis laws without pressure from the central government. 

The new piece of legislation would essentially: 

According to the Pew Research Centre, a solid majority of the American public now agree that responsible marijuana consumers should not be treated like criminals. Over 90% of Americans now favour legalising marijuana, of which 60% are in favour of recreational use as well — the highest percentage support ever reported in a nationwide scientific poll. 

Although, even if the Bill were somehow to pass, it is unclear if President Biden would sign it. 

The US President has spoken about mass incarceration in the past, during his campaign, saying that cannabis offenses shouldn’t land people in jail. Shortly after, the White House fired its staff early in Biden’s term for cannabis use, earning the president criticism from marijuana legalisation advocates. 

When asked about Biden’s two cents on the new cannabis Bill, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Biden’s stance on marijuana legalisation hasn’t changed and that the President did not support the decriminalisation of the drug on a federal level. 

The United States Sentencing Commission prison data covering 2015-2021 reveals 5,117 are currently imprisoned for possession of marijuana, all of whom are serving a 2+ year sentence. 

A record number of arrests despite more states legalising marijuana: According to NORML, America’s oldest group advocating for cannabis decriminalisation, even as more US states legalise it, 6,606 marijuana-related arrests were made last year. This was a 25% increase over the prior year when the feds reported 4,992 arrests, according to data compiled by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. The totals are the highest reported by the agency since 2011.

According to the NORML Truth Report, while not all of those individuals arrested are eventually sentenced to long terms in jail, the fact remains that the repercussions of a cannabis arrest alone are significant – including (but not limited to):

In other words, whether or not cannabis offenders ultimately serve time in jail, hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens are having their lives needlessly destroyed each year for nothing more than using cannabis.

What is it like in India? Here in India, cannabis has had a long history of cultivation, consumption and trade. The consumption and sale of cannabis was common-place for the better part of the last century until India inevitably succumbed to pressure from the United Nations, after which it was outlawed and remains so to this day.

Under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) 1985, the following forms of cannabis have been outlawed,

It is easy to confuse CBD oil with cannabis or hash oil (the latter making news with Brittney Griner’s arrest) but the two are vastly different, both in terms of pharmacology and legal treatment: cannabis or hash oil, unlike CBD oil, is 100% narcotic and is subject to strict monitoring and control in India as per provisions of NDPS Act.

While those advocating for the legalisation of cannabis for both medicinal and recreational purposes steadily grow in numbers with each passing day, a far bleaker reality exists where these laws systematically target and punish the lower social strata in contrast, and a case should be made for the scrapping of these blatantly misused, archaic laws, believe marijuana advocates. 

A class problem: Amrit Kumar, an advocate practicing at the Delhi and Patna High Court, receives over 20 cannabis-related cases per year, of which almost every case involves a person from marginalised or working class communities. 

“The complete law, from the substantive as well as the procedural aspects, is airtight and allows no scope for interpretation. Once an allegation is levelled, it is very difficult to explain the innocence. The act is more of a barbarian era than of a modern democratic one,” he tells DailyO.

According to Kumar, it is easier for the police officials to evade the process of law in cases of lower-class people as they lack resources and education, having no knowledge regarding their legal rights. “Merely illegalising cannabis does not give authorities the power to break the wall of law and curtail the privacy and freedom of any individual, regardless of their background,” he says.

According to the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, a Delhi-based legal think tank, a prohibitionist environment drives people towards unsafe practices and the black market where the quality of substances remains unchecked, leading to adulteration. Cannabis in India is known to be adulterated with substances like benzodiazepine, a prescription sedative, which can lead to addiction to sedatives without the person’s knowledge or consent. 

Large-scale stigmatisation of the effects of cannabis, rather than access to safe use practices often leads to the consumption of multiple intoxicants, including alcohol, the effects of which are almost always equated to the relatively harmless effects of cannabis.

A promising model: Sikkim provides a promising indigenous decriminalisation model. The Sikkim Anti-Drugs Act, 2006 (SADA) does not utilise deterrence to curb drug use and relies on a public health approach to protect the best interests of a drug user. The Vidhi Centre further recommends in their report that India should decriminalise cannabis use completely and adopt a public health approach to address addiction and use.

“I would personally express myself as a supporter for the legalisation of cannabis with strict direction and regulation for its sale and purchase. Merely citing stringent laws would only be resorting to prejudice rather than thinking progressively,” says Kumar. 

While Thailand joins the roster of Southeast Asian countries moving forward with decriminalisation, the road towards legalisation is still an uphill climb for most countries including India.