In April 2017, when the Central government and the Ministry of Health and Welfare issued the first-ever research licence to grow cannabis to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR – IIIM) in collaboration with Bombay Hemp Company (BOHECO), it was the start of something unprecedented. Cannabis startup Boheco was banking on the revival of cannabis to improve research, reduce drug abuse and aid cancer patients. Since November 14, 1985, when the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act came into force in India, the use of cannabis, with the exception of bhang, has gone underground.