The Kerala High Court on November 4 dismissed a petition by a man seeking to quash proceedings against him for growing cannabis. The petitioner had been caught by excise officials with five cannabis plants in pots on the terrace of a rented house. He offered a novel defence – that the plants had not yet developed “flowering or fruiting tops”. Under the law, he claimed, only the flowering tops constitute “ganja”. Therefore, a plant without them should not be illegal.

The single judge Bench of Justice C S Dias rejected this argument. The court held that the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, draws a clear line between the “cannabis plant” and the product “ganja”. While ganja is defined by its flowering tops, the Act separately and explicitly prohibits the cultivati

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