Ramdev's support of legalization of Marijuana in India

Yoga Guru Ramdev’s Patanjali, India’s leading Ayurvedic brand is now looking into India’s cannabis space. The brand has challenged many multinational companies in the past selling Ayurvedic products. Pantajali is now reinforcing the studies on Marijuana plant’s medicinal and industrial properties. Since ancient times hemp of the plant has been used in Ayurveda. And the medicinal benefits of the plant has been talked about a lot. With a team of 200 scientists, the research and development centre is exploring medical uses of indigenous Indian plants.

First things first, let’s understand how the plant works. There are two main species to cannabis plant, sativa and indica. Sativa species contains fibre or hemp that is used for industrial purposes. Indica is has medicinal and recreational properties, basically what you puff-puff pass. In simple terms indica will make you trip while sativa will affect your digestion if consumed.

For while cannabis’s use is widespread as an intoxicant in India, it’s not widely used industrially. As a result, only a handful of companies and legislators have sought to get it legalised, doing which could also help provide a livelihood to farmers. And an intervention by Ramdev’s firm could surely help the cause. Ramdev’s brand is known to be all natural and all herbal. He introduced new substances, besides the generic ones like rose, aloe vera, and what not, to apply to your face. He introduced, gomutra (cow urine), which to be quite honest is a little cringe-worthy. But get this, if industrial usage is legalized for Ramdev than Patanjali might enter a billion dollar market on a global level. But, India is yet to accept its cannabis economy, let alone recognise it. In other markets such as the US, where the use of the plant is legal in some states, sales of cannabis generated close to $8 billion in 2017.

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