A foreign delegation met the State’s Finance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant to discuss scope for cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes in Uttarakhand. The delegation comprised experts from Japan and USA who have conducted research on beneficial use of cannabis cultivated for medicinal use.
Uttarakhand is suitable for cannabis cultivation and the plant has been grown in the region traditionally. The experts stated that there is considerable scope for cultivating cannabis in the State and using it for medicinal purposes.
Pant informed the delegation that cannabis has been grown in the mountainous regions since ancient times. However, under the proposed project, cannabis will be cultivated and used systematically and scientifically so that contents derived from it are used in life-saving medicines. He further said that industrial hemp could also be used on land rendered barren by lantana and similar weeds and damage by wild animals. This would also help in boosting foreign investment in the State, he added.