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Bill to Legalize Marijuana and Opium Cleared for Indian Parliament (2016)
- brudgers 9y agoLinked article at Hindustan Times, http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/aap-mp-gandhi-s-bill-seeking-opium-legalisation-cleared-for-tabling-in-parliament/story-itanKX3vRrhuXJPdgnJD6N.html http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/aap-mp-gandhi-s-bill-se...
- jacob019 9y agoThe article clearly articulates what I've been thinking for years. It is so sad how many lives are ruined for nothing by the immoral and draconian drug laws.
- billmalarky 9y agoIs this "legalization" or more like "decriminalization"?
- freedomben 9y agoLegalization. > this bill aims to legalize and start regulated supply of traditional intoxicants such as opium and marijuana (cannabis) as ‘soft drugs’ in India.
- billmalarky 9y agoThanks for answering. I read that line but wasn't entirely sure if "soft drug" meant full legal recreational or prescription only etc.
- Castle9 9y agothis is one year old article?
- praneshp 9y agoNeeds [2016] (and maybe "neeeever gonna happen".)
- sandGorgon 9y agoThis is a private bill introduced by the Aam Aadmi Party. Let's see what happens to it, but kudos for the attempt!
- arkades 9y agoWhat is the difference between a private and non-private bill?
- vkou 9y agoA private bill does not have the support of the ruling party behind it (That does not mean that the ruling party will vote it down, though.) Any member of parliament can propose a private bill - the odds of it becoming law, though, are not great.
- maskedinvader 9y agoprivate member bill is a bill tabled by any member of parliament (known as MP in India) who is not a part of a executive branch or part of the cabinet of the ruling govt
- vthallam 9y agoJust to note that the MP who has introduced this is suspended by that party.
- Bhilai 9y agoThe current BJP government holds absolute majority in the parliament and the prevailing feeling is that the government is very regressive to say the least. I'd be very surprised if this bill ever gets passed.
- meri_dian 9y agoI wouldn't be so quick to label Opium legalization as 'progressive'. The Chinese experience with Opium in the 1800's was terrible and very damaging to their society. The nature of opiates is that they are very addictive addicted. Drug addiction is incredibly difficult to shake once it has taken hold. The way to deal with opiates is to never allow someone to become addicted in the first place. It's time for us to realize that the global opiate crisis is occurring precisely because opiates are more available now than they ever have been. I love Western culture, but its prioritization of instant gratification can be myopic.
- ep103 9y agoyeah, legalizing opium is an odd choice. I don't understand it. Its addictive. It would make more sense to significantly decriminalize it, but keep it illegal, so that addicts can get treatment without fear of legal repercussion. I don't understand what would be gained by legalizing it wholesale though.
- ni-hil 9y agoThe ability to potentially obtain a product of better quality, and to not have to deal with such shady people to get their dose.
- meri_dian 9y agoSo let's make it easier for people to perpetuate their addiction? No, we should be making it much harder for them to do so.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jrs95 9y agoA higher quality and more consistent product means there's a larger window of time for getting them treatment. If the quality situation ends up like it is in the U.S. now, you end up with a much more lethal product and a huge rate of overdose deaths.
- duxup 9y agoConsidering the opioid experience here in the US and the science showing how incredibly addictive it is, even after a few days use ... I find the opium legalization an odd choice. Marijuana fine by me. Opium, that sounds like it could be terrible.
- kikoreis 9y agoLegalization efforts of hard drugs are not really efforts to stimulate drug use; rather they are intended to make visible addiction which is typically hidden underground. Marijuana is a bit of an odd case as it is generally considered harmless; there's an argument it never should have been illegal in the first place.
- modi15 9y agoMarijuana use is widespread already. You can get passively high just by sitting outside one of the temples in himalayan india. Not too sure what this will change.
- chimeracoder 9y ago> Marijuana use is widespread already. You can get passively high just by sitting outside one of the temples in himalayan india. Not too sure what this will change. You can say the same thing about large parts of the US, but that doesn't mean there aren't incredibly strong reasons to formally legalizing it.
- JumpCrisscross 9y agoThis is a bill introduced over a year ago by a minority party to Parliament. Its legislative weight is maybe a notch above than that of an op-ed.
- ecthiender 9y agoThis news is from 2016 though. So what happened? Does anybody know?
- mikestew 9y agoKind of curious about that myself. All I can find is that is was cleared to go before Parliament November 2016, and there hasn't been a news story I can find since.