Federal Cabinet approves industrial, medical use of hemp

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and technology, Fawad Chaudhry has said that the federal cabinet approved the first licence for industrial and medical use of hemp.

On a social media website Twitter, the minister termed the approval as a “landmark decision”, which will place Pakistan in the multibillion-dollar cannabidiol (CBD) market.

The cabinet okayed the first licence for Minister of Science and Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) in its meeting held today with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair.

Cabinet has approved first License for @MinistryofST and PCSIR for industrial and medical use of Hemp, landmark decision ll place Pakistan in billions of USD CBD market…..

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) September 1, 2020

Hemp is a variety of Cannabis sativa plant species that is used in multiple things.

CBD, which is derived directly from the hemp plant, has several medical benefits and according to Harvard Health, it has been scientifically proven to be effective in treating some of the cruellest childhood epilepsy syndromes, such as Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), which typically don’t respond to antiseizure medications.

CBD was able to reduce the number of seizures, and in some cases, it was able to stop them altogether.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is derived from cannabis plants but does not cause users to get high. It focused on young patients with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy. It is grown specifically for the industrial uses of its derived products.