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Dr Nene continued, “So, here’s the interesting part. We think we know a lot about medicine, right? And we’re learning that some things which they thought were harmful, aren’t. Like LSD was originally formulated to be used on soldiers, to make them war machines. But what we’re finding now is that it may be beneficial for depression, there may be benefits for other things. Cannabis used to be a Schedule 1 drug; we would (prescribe) it to our cancer patients, because it would really help with their appetites after chemo, and also help with their nausea. Also in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other things, we did it. Now, what they’ve done in the US is that they’ve legalised it. They’ve controlled it. My fear is that people using it may get into trouble, because according to some surveys, people are using cannabis more than alcohol in some cases.”

He wondered why there is ‘such an abject fear of this’, but made it clear that neither he nor Ranveer are endorsing substance abuse. He continued, “I don’t fear it, because I’ve prescribed it to my patients (in the US). But the NCB is on a course to wipe out all this stuff. You go to Punjab, weed grows on the side of the road… There may be a medicinal use of this, there may be a social use of this. But in an unrestricted, unsupervised, uneducated context… In no way are you and I advocating that stuff. But we’re not criticising, at the same time. In India, there’s a bit of hypocrisy, because ascetics have used it for a really long time. And I would say that with ‘bhaang’ or cannabis, it’s not that big of a deal. But when you move to opium or cocaine, the addictivity of it is incredible, and that isn’t something that we can even debate.”

Ranveer Allahbadia faced backlash recently after certain comments made by him on the comedy show India’s Got Latent caused outrage among a section of the audience. He subsequently apologised, but the damage had been done. The show was taken down from YouTube, and he has been questioned by the police about the case, after FIRs were filed against him. He recently resumed posting videos, after getting a go-ahead by the Supreme Court.