Inside India's Unregulated Cannabis Market: A 13-Year User's Call for Safety Testing

The author argues that clinical cannabis research using purified compounds fails to capture the realities of illicit markets where products like Ganja and Charas have unpredictable potency, pesticide contamination, and adulteration. Personal consumption patterns reveal that inconsistent products make precise dosing impossible and that standard clinical outcome measures miss user-reported effects like cognitive enhancement.

Perspective article informed by 13 years of personal experience within India's prohibited cannabis ecosystem. Not a systematic study but a call for research priorities including chemical analysis of illicit products, qualitative user research, user-centered outcome measures, and transition from prohibition to regulation.

Most cannabis research uses standardized pharmaceutical-grade products, creating a blind spot about what people actually consume in unregulated markets. In countries like India where cannabis remains prohibited, users face unknown risks from contamination and adulteration that have nothing to do with cannabis itself.

This perspective highlights a fundamental gap in global cannabis research: the disconnect between controlled clinical settings and the reality of illicit markets used by millions. It argues that regulation, not prohibition, is the most effective public health intervention for consumer safety.

Perspective article based on personal experience, not systematic research. Single-author viewpoint from one region of India. Proposed research agenda has not been implemented. Potential bias from the author's position as a long-term user.