SRI LANKA WANTS TO GROW CANNABIS FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES

Facing a lack of fresh cannabis for use in traditional Ayurvedic medical preparations, the Ministry of Indigenous Medicine this month announced a plan to grow 4,000 kg a year of cannabis. The ministry wants to be excepted from laws that have made cannabis illegal in Sri Lanka. "We are interested in getting some approval to grow some cannabis with government sponsorship, but there must be controls. It is under study," Asoka Malimage from the Ministry, said.

Ayurveda is a traditional medical system which makes wide use of herbs and natural remedies. In Sri Lanka, ayurveda practitioners outnumber Western-trained doctors. Fresh cannabis fried in ghee, a form of clarified butter, is used in about 18 different traditional medicines for treating a wide variety of ailments, Malimage said. Currently, cannabis seized by the police is used. But this cannabis is old and dried out, said Dr. Dayangani Senasekara, head of the state-run Bandaranaike Memorial Ayurvedic Research Institute in Colombo. The institute is making preparations that use cannabis to treat diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases.