With mentions of marijuana dating all the way back to the Vedas, the plant has long been entwined in Indian history. From Shivbhakts to bhaang and more, cannabis has been a part of our culture for longer than people realize. With actor Rhea Chakraborty’s arrest over ‘procuring’ weed for late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the conversation has been hyped by overzealous media houses in a quest for skyrocketing TRPs. However, before jumping on the bandwagon of opinions, it’s important to remember that the criminalization of weed is a Western imperliastic import, something India tried to withstand for a long time. Pressured into it by the USA in 1985, the government’s Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act is an archaic law attempting to regulate cannabis use, and evidently failing. It’s time to revisit the past and present and rediscover the liberating trip of pot in pop culture through the years.