Goa: Cannabis-laced medicines worth Rs 2.13 lakh seized after police raid clinic in Alto-Porvorim

In a first in Goa and a case which could put to the test the extent to which the country’s laws permit the use of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes, the police raided a clinic in Alto-Porvorim on Tuesday night and seized medicines laced with cannabis worth Rs 2.13 lakh.

Acting on information that medicines made from cannabis were being sold in the clinic, a Porvorim police team raided the premises and found various medicinal products containing cannabis being displayed for sale.

The staff at the clinic could not produce any permission or documents from authorities concerned for the sale of the products.

Police said, they seized 83 boxes and two bottles, all weighing a combined 7 kgs and valued at Rs 2.13 lakh, from the clinic.

According to sources, a doctor would visit the clinic twice a month to check patients.

Police have registered an offence under the NDPS Act against the owner of the clinic, who is a native of New Delhi and is presently absconding.

Further investigations are being carried out by Police Inspector Anant Gaonkar and closely guided and supervised by DySP Vishwesh Karpe and the North Goa SP Shobit Saxena, IPS.

The Clinic -- Cannadoc Clinic -- is owned by Delhi-based Arjun Khanna and was launched just three weeks ago with a jaw-dropping beach-side party.

Meanwhile, the case as it progresses through the prosecution process in the courts, is expected to evince keen interest among a growing constituency of ‘legalise cannabis’ protagonists.

It could be a test case for India’s nascent attempt at permitting the use of cannabis for scientific and medical purposes, said a leading lawyer conversant with NDPS law who wished not to be identified.

The Central government is on record in a 2020 affidavit it filed before the Delhi High Court that cannabis for medical and scientific use is allowed under the law.

In the same affidavit, the Centre had also said it had empowered State governments to permit, control and regulate the cultivation of any cannabis plant, production, manufacture, possession, transport, inter-state import and export, sale, purchase, consumption or use of cannabis (excluding charas) for medical, scientific and industrial purposes.

In Goa, a proposal to enact a law regulating the cultivation of cannabis was mooted by the Health Ministry in December 2020. Although it passed the legal test and got the nod from the law department, the move died prematurely with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant junking it following a public outcry.

(This news is reported by The Goan. To read more GOA news visit The Goan)