News
Cannabis for exports
View(s):By Chris Kamalendran
The setting up of a 10,000 acre cannabis plantation in the Ratnapura district is to be proposed to the Cabinet by the Health Ministry.
Indigenous Medicine State Minister Sisira Jayakody has presented the proposal through the Health Ministry. The proposal is to be submitted to the Cabinet on October 5.
The state minister told the Sunday Times there was a huge demand for cannabis in western countries and exporting cannabis was an excellent way to earn foreign revenue at a time when the country was undergoing a severe economic crisis.
“A negative perception regarding the cannabis use persists in the country. There are far more uses for cannabis than simply to smoke. For example, cannabis can be used as a key ingredient in ayurvedic medicines,” Mr Jayakody said.
The Ayurveda Department Head Dr Sagala Abeywickrama said they were receiving small quantities of cannabis from court productions after the conclusions of trials. These, however, are outdated by the time they reach the department and as such, it is difficult to produce good quality ayurvedic medicines using them. “At the moment, we have about 3000 kilograms of pure quality cannabis,” she revealed.
The department can only release about 10 kilograms of cannabis in powdered form to a registered ayurvedic pharmacy to produce medicines.
The cannabis will initially be grown purely for export purposes. However, once the plantation is set up, the department would be gradually able to cater to local ayurvedic medicine producers as well, Dr Abeywickrama said.
The export process of the cannabis will be monitored by government agencies, including Sri Lanka Customs.
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