The consumption of Cannabis (Ganja) and its resin (Charas) has been a punishable offence in India since 1985 after the enactment of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act that was brought into force after the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, which came into effect in 1975. In the context of increasing media scrutiny and widespread public attention on celebrities for their arrest and detention resulting from the purported use of cannabis, the question as to whether cannabis consumption should be decriminalised has once again assumed significance.