Mood of the Nation poll: Despite clamour for making cannabis legal, 55% against it

More than half of the respondents surveyed for the India Today Mood of the Nation poll are against legalisation of cannabis while 36% are in favour.

Listen to Story

Advertisement
Mood of the Nation poll: Despite clamour for making cannabis legal, 55% against it
Consumption of cannabis is banned in India under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances or NDPS Act (Representational)

Despite a growing clamour by some sections and NGOs in India to legalise the recreational use of cannabis, more than half of the respondents (55 per cent) surveyed for the India Today Group-Karvy Insights Mood of the Nation (MOTN) 2021 poll are against the move.

Only 36 per cent of those surveyed favoured legalisation of cannabis, whose consumption is banned under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances or NDPS Act. Moreover, an overwhelming 89 per cent of the respondents felt drug addiction was a serious problem in the country.

advertisement

Complete findings of the Mood of the Nation January 2021 survey

The issue has gained traction recently after India voted with the majority of member states at the United Nations to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from the list of most dangerous substances in the International Convention on narcotic drugs. The move by India hinted that the government was in favour of doing away with the criminalisation of recreational and medicinal use of cannabis.

It also grabbed headlines after, in a twist to the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested the late actor's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and questioned several other actors for alleged possession and purchase of cannabis.

According to a 2019 study by the Social Justice Ministry, nearly 31 million people in India were reported to have consumed a cannabis product in a year, of which 13 million had used weed and hash. Cannabis consumption was higher in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh and Delhi than the national average.

READ | Mood of the Nation poll January 2021: Methodology

ALSO READ | Should India make Cannabis legal?