India countries/in.yaml
The NDPS Act of 1985 bans ganja (flowering tops) and charas (resin). Possessing a 'small quantity' — up tounder 1 kg of ganja or 100 g of charas — is punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine of ₹ … nd prohibits unauthorised possession, purchase and use under section 14.[@maharashtra2025]
label Small quantity, NDPS · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 1 year · fine 10000 · note Up to one year, ₹10,000, or both for up toUnder 1 kg of ganja or 100 g of charas; consumption alone up to six months, label Intermediate quantity · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 10 years · fine 100000 · note 1–20 kg ganja or 100 g–1 kg charas; exactly 1 kg and 20 kg fall here, label Commercial quantity · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 10 years · prison 20 years · fine min 100000 · fine 200000 · note Over 20 kg ganja or over 1 kg charas
Cultivating the cannabis plant is an offence with up to ten years. States may permit and regulate cultivation for industrial or horticultural purposes: Uttarakhand licensed hemp from 2018, followed by others.[@ndps]
ipl, hgndps
label Cultivation · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison 10 years · fine 100000 · note Up to ten years unless a state government permits it
Arrests for small quantities are common and bail can be difficult under the NDPS Act; enforcement is uneven and occasionally high-profile.[@ndps]
boom, iplndps
Supply is trafficking, with sentences scaledthe same three quantity bands as possession: up to one year for a small quantity, up to ten years for an intermediate one, and ten to twenty years for a commercial one.[@ndps] Section 31A also allows death only for a repeatsecond qualifying offenceconviction involving at least 20 kg of hashish or 500 g of THC, and the court may impose the section 31 sentence instead; there is no ganja entry in the section 31A table.[@ndps31a]
cbn, ndps31a, ndps
label Small quantity · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison 1 year · fine 10000, label Intermediate quantity · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison 10 years · fine 100000, label Commercial quantity · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 10 years · prison 20 years · fine min 100000 · fine 200000, label Repeat qualifying trafficking, Section 31A · treatment criminal · term Repeat trafficking · death true · note Discretionary death for repeat offences ofSecond qualifying conviction with at least 20 kg of hashish or 500 g of THC; death or the section 31 sentence
Section 31A of the NDPS Act makes death a discretionary sentence only for certain repeat offences. The cannabis thresholds in its table area second qualifying conviction involving at least 20 kg of hashish or 500 g of THC. The[@ndps31a] Ganja is not in the table, and simple possession or use cannot bring death-penalty. The recreational status reflects this maximum punishment-penalty route, not the penalty for users; bhang made from leaves remains lawfully sold in several states.[@ndps]
cbnndps31a, ndps
medicalhemp
State-licensed hemp cultivation in a growing number of states; Ayurvedic manufacturers use cannabis leaf under licence.[@hg]
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No national medical programme, but cannabis-leaf preparations are sold as Ayurvedic medicines, some on prescription; bhang and hemp-seed foods are the lawful consumer products.[@hg]
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An NDPS conviction is a serious criminal record.[@ndps]
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The 1985 Act defines ganja as the flowering or fruiting tops of the plant, "excluding the … lant is an offence under section 20 unless a state government permits it under section 10.[@ndps]
Cannabis is by far the most seized drug in India. The Narcotics Control Bureau's annual re … to 687 in 2025 and seizures from 303 kg to 4,862 kg, nearly all of it caught at airports.[@dh26]
No cannabis clubs are known, and no law provides for them: supply of ganja or charas is tr … known as the centre of its use. These are shops and festival customs, not members' clubs.[@ipl]
ipl, hg, wikibhang
Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act covers driving or attempting to drive while under th … Section 20 provides disqualification for at least six months on a section 185 conviction.[@mva_driving]
mva_driving, odisha_driving
Indian Express — Himachal launches an industrial hemp policy (27 December 2025) New Indian Express — Kerala first-time drug offenders may get a reform pass (23 May 2026) 11 unchanged
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Hemp is state-licensed, not a national regime: Himachal's December 2025 policy sets a THC limit below 0.3%, and Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and other states license fibre or seed growing.[@hemp26] The NDPS Act itself sets no national THC threshold, so the 0.3% figure is a state condition.[@ndps,hemp26]
ndps, hemp26
The NCB counted 148,063 drug cases and 183,675 arrests in 2025, including 747 foreigners, against 96,930 cases and 122,224 arrests in 2024; the figures cover all drugs.[@dh26] No cannabis-only arrest count is published.[@dh26] Kerala alone recorded 36,314 police NDPS cases and 12,568 excise cases in 2025, again all drugs.[@kerala26]
dh26, kerala26