Economics of cannabis: Can India grab a share of the $350 bn global market?

UN decision, and the easing of attitudes in the US, will go a long way towards growing the market, as well as legitimising illegal revenues. India has a natural advantage

Recreational drugs were popular winners in the November US elections. Both “Red” and “Blue” states voted to decriminalise drugs, wherever such propositions were on the ballot. Arizona, New Jersey, South Dakota, Montana, and Mississippi voted to legalise cannabis use. Oregon (where marijuana was already legal) went further, decriminalising possession of heroin and cocaine in small quantities. Washington, District of Columbia, decriminalised psychedelic mushrooms.

On Wednesday, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) accepted a World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation that cannabis and cannabis resin be removed from “Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drug”. The recommendation