A top Pakistani cabinet official announced this month that hemp has been harvested in a ceremonial event for the nation’s first legal cannabis plants under the government’s new program for the crop.
Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz marked the occasion at the Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University. The school has been authorized to grow cannabis under a license issued by the ministry.
“Hemp can also greatly influence import and export. The products that are made of hemp are more profitable than the hemp itself,” Faraz remarked. “Hemp-made products can give profit up to ten times the original drug.”
It was in September of 2020 that the Pakistani cabinet approved a plan to legalize industrial hemp.
92 News reported that added to the Science and Technology Ministry, the cabinet decision to allow for hemp production was made in concert with the Agriculture Ministry, Health Ministry and the Federal Board of Revenue.
Fawad Chaudhr, the minster for information and broadcasting, said, “This masterpiece of modern agriculture will give Pakistan a chance to enter the multi-million dollar industry.”
The hemp plants that Faraz helped to harvest were planted in August, and CBD will be extracted from the crop, said AAJ News.
“The [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] government wants to patronize such projects,” Faraz said.
