It was with much amusement that the state of Goa and the residents of the capital city received the news that not one, but two saplings of the cannabis plant were found growing in the freshly landscaped spaces of Panaji. The saplings were noticed by keen passersby including a journalist, who reported the matter to the police, and soon the elite special forces -- the Anti Narcotics Cell were on the scene to carefully and forensically collect the sample for examination.
It is not known where or how the plants landed there or whether or not they were there accidentally, but from everything we know so far, it appears that this move is nothing more than a prank played by someone in a bid to watch the authorities run about on a wild goose chase. That the plants have been ‘planted’ when the city is undergoing an endless overhaul of its streets only lends credence to this theory.
The cannabis plant is native to India, more particularly to the Himalayan foothills and can be found growing in the wild in states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand where the cultivation of cannabis is legalized, though regulated, while there is no regulation concerning what grows naturally in the wild. To that extent, the question that needs to be asked is whether any offence has been made out on account of the discovery of the cannabis plants at the two separate locations in the city.
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act or the NDPS Act banned the use of the resin, flowering and fruit tops of the plant. But as the police themselves admitted, the plants in question found on the roadsides of Panaji bore no flowering or fruit tops and as such were still young plants. The cannabis plant is known to be cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol, with the latter labelled as a psychoactive substance while the former is known for its medicinal uses.
In all honesty, what was surprising was the over-reaction of the police which gave the impression that they had chanced upon a large haul of a banned substance. On the flip side, one cannot fault the police for showing up at the scene and ‘seizing’ the plants, given that were they not to do anything, they would also have been looked upon suspiciously.
In all likelihood, the cases will end up being closed for lack of evidence -- unless the police are able to actually find the culprit/s with the help of CCTV footage or other clues which is highly unlikely.
The development appears trivial because it takes us nowhere, plus it is insignificant against the kind of drugs that Goa has been witnessing. There will be some who argue that such instances if left unattended, would encourage the pranksters further and offer them cover for more serious violations of law. But that’s quite far-fetched especially since attempting to pull off such an operation in full public view is next to impossible. Also, if this is intentional, it does not serve any purpose apart from poking fun.
The police would be better served tracking serious drug movements like cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamine, LSD, ecstasy, etc that have vitiated the environment, and not get bogged down by such isolated and stray instances.
