WHILE I do not plead for the legalisation of hashish for recreational use, I do believe that glaucoma patients (pressure relieved on the eye balls) and cancer patients (increase in appetite) should be allowed legal, medical hashish in Pakistan.

Dr Sanjay Gupta on CNN described a case of a child suffering from over 300 seizures a week, who was cured with a few drops of marijuana oil placed under the tongue daily.

In the United States, a large number of states, 29 as of December 2016, have legalised medical marijuana and some states have even decriminalised marijuana for recreational use.

In Canada, medical marijuana is legal and it is expected that marijuana for recreational use will be legalised in spring 2017 as per Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election promise.

The marijuana industry in the US is already estimated to be worth $14 billion with more states expected to legalise marijuana for both medical and recreational use.

Omar Mirza

New York, USA

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2017