Former State Minister Diana Gamage on Sunday (17) hailed the government’s decision to permit cannabis cultivation in export zones, under strict regulation.
Addressing the media, Gamage said she was pleased that the administration had adopted proposals she had made during her tenure in the previous government.
“I never proposed that people be allowed to smoke cannabis. I only proposed it purely as an industry to earn dollars for Sri Lanka,” she said, adding that her own colleagues had opposed the move at the time.
She noted that the current government had issued licences to seven international companies. “I respect President Anura Kumara Dissanayake for openly explaining to the nation the need for a legal cannabis industry and the foreign revenue it can generate,” she said.
Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa last week said that the initiative was based on a process initiated in 2004, and that cultivation would be strictly monitored by the Board of Investment and the Department of Ayurveda. Cannabis would be exported, he said.