ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet is to approve a project meant to cultivate hemp at industrial level (having THC value less than 0.3 percent) for scientific and medical purposes in the country.
For this purpose, Ministry of National Control has formally submitted a summary to federal cabinet with the approval of the Prime Minister. The summary will be considered by the Cabinet on Tuesday (Sept 1).
Sharing the details, sources said, Prime Minister issued directives regarding domestication and commercialization of cannabis/hemp. Subsequently a meeting was held at Ministry of Narcotics Control which was co-chaired by Azam Khan Swati, Minister for Narcotics Control and Fawad Hussain Chaudhry, Minister for Science & Technology.
The Ministry of Science and Technology has shown keen interest in cultivation of Industrial hemp (THC value less than 0.3%) for scientific and medicinal purposes. The consolidated recommendations in the shape of a summary were submitted for approval of Prime Minister.
Later on, Ministry of Science and Technology requested for permission to cultivate industrial hemp and a summary was moved for grant of permission by the Prime Minister Office. Prime Minister directed to submit a summary to the cabinet as required under section 4 of the Control of Narcotics Substances Act, 1997 for cultivation of hemp for industrial and medical purposes.
A similar case has been submitted by International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi seeking permission for cultivation of industrial hemp at the following locations; (i) ICCBS Medicinal Plant Campus, Moza Lokot, Murree Expressway (18 Kanal) ii. District Haripur in the proximity of Haripur University (10 acres leased land) iii. ICCBS Agriculture Farm, Mirpur Sakro, Thatta District, Sindh (4 acres).
The approval of Federal Cabinet is required under Section 4 of Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997 for granting permission for cultivation of industrial hemp (having THC value less than 0.3%) for scientific and industrial purposes to International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS).
Pakistan Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (PCSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology has requested for cultivation of industrial hemp at herbal/botanical park, Jhelum over an area of 50 acres.
Ministry of Science and Technology will separately submit PC-1 for upgradation of PCSIR laboratory and security of the project through Ministry of Planning and Development. The approval of Federal Cabinet has been sought under Section 4 of Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997 for granting permission for cultivation of hemp (having THC value less than 3 per cent) for scientific and industrial purposes to Ministry of Science and Technology.
The permission will be regulated under rule 2(ix), 8, 9 and 10 of Control of Narcotics Substances Rules, 2001 and any other conditions prescribed by international conventions.
Summary regarding removal of industrial hemp/CBD from the negative list requires
amendment in the Import Policy Order 2016 with approval of the Federal Cabinet in terms of section 3(1) of Imports & Exports (Control) Act, 1950, after consultation with Ministry of Commerce.
On April 24, 2020, the Prime Minister chaired a meeting on domestication and commercialization of medical and industrial cannabis wherein following decisions were taken:
The meeting decided that in order to leverage tremendous increasing global demand for medicinal cannabis, a project may be initiated for: (i) mapping, characterizing and screening locally-grown wild hemp for the CBD, THC, and fiber contents to select the most promising strains/lines; (ii) importing medicinal & industrial hemp seed of different strains and testing their performance under the local agro-climatic conditions to screen the best adapted ones; (iii) testing field and controlled environment performance of both local and imported selected strains to select the outperforming ones; (iv) developing a comprehensive package of agro-technology for sustainable production of the selected strains; (v) analyzing, identifying and standard hemp products with focus on medicinal, textile, paper and functional food aspect, commercial production, processing and value addition of industrial hemp. Narcotics Control Division in coordination with other stakeholders shall undertake an exercise for review and modification of institutional setup, relevant regulations and any other changes which maybe required.
The cabinet is also expected to discuss recent controversy about assets of Chairman CPEC Authority, Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa and will condemn it on the plea that it is malicious campaign against CPEC.
The issue of an extract from a book of Minister for Railways, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed titled "Lal Haveli to United Nations" is also expected to be noted in the cabinet meeting as the writer has disclosed that the decision to reach PTV and Parliament had been taken at the container of Imran Khan.
The country's political situation, devastation by recent floods to the properties and crops across the country, Karachi situation and other related issues will also be discussed by the cabinet.
Chairman CDA will give presentation on the status of encroachments on the Margalla Road, Islamabad whereas Aviation Division will table a summary on high rise construction in Islamabad, Karachi , Lahore , Peshawar and Multan . Aviation Division will also update cabinet on outsourcing of major airports-benchmarks and timelines. Appointments made without approval of the federal government as identified by the Ministries/ Division is also on the agenda.
Nepra's annual report, 2018-19 and State of Industry report, 2019 will also be discussed by the Cabinet.
The cabinet will ratify decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms taken on July 27, and August 13, 2020; ratification of CCoP decisions and ratification of ECC decisions of August 21, 2020 and presentation on PPRA Rules and Comparison of process in public and private construction are also on the agenda.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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