The Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology, unanimously passed the bill titled ‘The Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority Bill, 2024’ during a meeting held on Monday.
The meeting, chaired by Senator Kamil Ali Agha, was held at parliament house. The Committee had detailed deliberations and passed the bill with amendments, including the inclusion of two members of the Senate, one of whom is a woman, as members of the Board of Governors of the authority, along with amendments to other clauses of the bill.
Chairman Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR), Dr. Syed Hussain Abidi, stated that the bill aimed to ensure public health by regulating the cultivation and manufacturing of cannabis and to generate revenue by utilizing the economic potential of the cannabis industry. He highlighted that cannabis can be used for industrial and medicinal purposes and has an economic potential of 04 to 06 billion dollars.
