Hemp without the high: Legal side still smoky, but cannabis startups eye areas from fabric to medicine

The legality of cannabis use in India has been a subject matter of debate from the British rule to as recent as 2017. But India is finally warming up to R&D in this area
The Indian Express (India)
Tuesday, February 20, 2018

In April 2017, when the Central government and the Ministry of Health and Welfare issued the first-ever research licence to grow cannabis to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR – IIIM) in collaboration with Bombay Hemp Company (BOHECO), it was the start of something unprecedented. Cannabis startup Boheco was banking on the revival of cannabis to improve research, reduce drug abuse and aid cancer patients. Since November 14, 1985, when the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act came into force in India, the use of cannabis, with the exception of bhang, has gone underground.