Study: Indians Love Using Marijuana Almost as Much as Americans

It appears that Indians love marijuana, right alongside Americans.

New Delhi and Mumbai in India have been ranked in the world’s top 10 cities with the highest marijuana consumption rates annually, according to Quartz.  The U.S. has three cities – New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago – listed in the top 10. Seedo’s 2018 Cannabis Price Index with city rankings surveyed 120 cities worldwide.

Pakistan’s commercial capital of Karachi, where trading marijuana is illegal, is the second-largest marijuana consumption sector, just after New York City.

These South Asian cities also have some of the cheapest marijuana prices, averaging between $4 and $5 per gram, but the quality is much lower than that of development countries. India also produces some of the most expensive hashish in the world.

The use and legal status of marijuana are overseen by India’s Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, and are regulated by the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985. India does allow marijuana cultivation for industrial applications, including industrial hemp for the fiber, but consuming it may result in a jail sentence of 6 months or fines up to $157USD. Illegal cultivation or production may result in a jail term of up to a decade.

Despite restrictions, Indians continue to heavily consume marijuana. In fact, marijuana topped India’s black market drug trade, according to 2016 reports regarding drug seizures.

Seedo also reviewed the consumption and pricing of marijuana by examining the higher and lower marijuana-consuming countries globally. After that, Seedo examined countries where marijuana is somewhat legal, totally legal or completely illegal to compile the final list of 120 cities. The prices per city are figured from crowd-sourced, city-level surveys and are then adjusted in accordance with the World Drug Report 2017 of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Photo: Quartz/Seedo