Understanding what’s legal, what’s not, and how to safely buy cannabis-derived products in India’s evolving market.
India’s cannabis laws draw a sharp line between banned narcotics and permitted leaf- and seed-based products, enabling a regulated wellness market for CBD and cannabis-leaf formulations. Brands like The Trost, BOHECO, Qurist, Cure By Design, Kushiva and Cannavedic operate under Ayurvedic and AYUSH frameworks, but consumers must scrutinise ingredients, licences, prescriptions and lab reports before buying.
Cannabis occupies a peculiar place in India’s legal and cultural landscape. While traditional cannabis-based narcotics such as ganja and charas remain prohibited under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the law does not place every part of the cannabis plant under the same blanket prohibition in India. Cannabis leaves and seeds are excluded from the Act’s definition of cannabis, creating a legal route for certain leaf-based preparations. Separately, cannabis-leaf medicines can be manufactured under regulated Ayurvedic frameworks, including AYUSH licensing and, in some cases, prescription requirements.
This distinction is increasingly relevant as a new crop of Indian brands turns cannabis-derived ingredients into oils, gummies, topicals, and other wellness products. But in a category still clouded by misconceptions, legality and consumer trust remain closely intertwined. As Harshal Goel, Founder and CEO of The Trost, puts it, “For a category as misunderstood as cannabis, creating a product is only one part of the job. Creating something people can trust is the other.”
Products labelled CBD, hemp, or cannabis are not automatically interchangeable under Indian law, and their legality can depend on the part of the plant used, the formulation, intended use and regulatory framework under which they are manufactured and sold. For consumers, that makes it worth looking beyond the buzzwords and at what exactly is in the bottle or gummy, and how it is regulated.
Then there’s a bunch of product endorsements to follow
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