The Secret Society Of The High Grade

How American capitalism, CBD research and a devoted group of hydroponic pioneers are transforming Indias cannabis landscape.

- Kerry Harwin

“Wait!” Rumi tells me as he opens the door to his flat. “We’d better do this properly.”

He sets his joint down in an ashtray on the table and runs towards the interior of the unit. Shoes half removed, backpack in one hand, I stand in the doorway, unsure, until Rumi summons me in. We’re 13 storeys above a part of Mumbai that I didn’t know had buildings like this – where the brushed aluminium appliances match the colour of the suits worn by the English-speaking security guards below. Through the door to my right, I see a kitchen full of appliances that I own in my private fantasies. The wall to the left is decorated with a multicoloured art installation made of flat panel LEDs. “Oh, those?” Rumi replies. “I picked them up in Hong Kong.”

In front of me is a plain white display case with wooden shelves. Soon, Rumi tells me, it will be filled with a selection of LPs from his vinyl collection. A keypad with a red digital display sits, mysteriously, on one of the shelves. As I examine the shelf, he presses a remote control button and the solid-looking wooden case cracks open in the middle, revealing another room, windows blacked out, behind it.

What lies beyond those secret doors – lights, nutrients, hydroponic equipment and an array of tools of the cannabis trade – is emblematic of a new trend that’s emerging from the farms of Haryana to the terraces of Delhi and the hidden backrooms of Mumbai. Fuelled by a global cannabis boom that’s resulted in legalisation in much of North America, enthusiasts here are taking matters into their own hands. Whether growing marijuana using hydroponics and LED lights, sourcing the high-grade stuff from the dark web or producing extracts and oils at home, India is poised at the edge of a transformation of how we think about weed.

India has a problem with bad weed.