Mr Negi spoke intimately about potential advantages of hashish cultivation. (Representational)
Shimla:
The Himachal Pradesh Meeting on Friday handed a major decision to legalise hashish cultivation, following the suggestions of an Meeting committee report.
The committee proposed the cultivation of hashish for medicinal and industrial functions, highlighting its potential as an financial asset for the state.
Jagat Singh Negi, Income Minister and chair of the Meeting committee, spoke intimately in regards to the report and the potential advantages of hashish cultivation. He famous that the thought was initially raised within the Meeting below Rule 130, with help from each the ruling and opposition events. A committee was shaped to discover the topic, and Jagat Singh Negi was appointed its chairman.
“The committee visited all of the districts of Himachal Pradesh and consulted native residents on how hashish cultivation may very well be used for medicinal and industrial functions. We additionally studied the profitable fashions in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh. The overwhelming consensus was in favour of legalising it in Himachal Pradesh,” Jagat Singh Negi mentioned.
Jagat Singh Negi emphasised the practicality of hashish cultivation, explaining that the plant doesn’t require a lot water, is immune to animal injury, and is essentially freed from ailments. “It has nice potential for each industrial and medicinal use. The commercial hemp plant might be drug-free, with negligible ranges of THC, whereas the medicinal selection might be tightly managed, just like opium cultivation below the NDPS Act,” Jagat Singh Negi added.
He additional famous that industrial hashish farming wouldn’t require intensive land, particularly in areas the place conventional crops aren’t possible attributable to water shortages or animal interference. “Traders are concerned with industrial hemp, and we are going to guarantee strict rules to handle medicinal hashish cultivation, following managed protocols to forestall misuse.”
In the course of the Finances Session of 2023, the Meeting had mentioned the potential of legalising hashish cultivation. In response, a panel of MLAs from each side, led by Jagat Singh Negi, was shaped to look at the feasibility of this transfer. The panel’s findings, based mostly on visits to different states and interactions with native stakeholders, have been introduced to the Home.
The decision, now adopted, is a significant step in direction of legalising hashish cultivation within the state. “This initiative shouldn’t be about encouraging drug use, however about harnessing hashish for industrial and medicinal functions in a regulated, helpful method,” Jagat Singh Negi added additional.
The meeting of Himachal Pradesh in the course of the Finances session early final yr had appointed a panel to check the authorized industrial and medicinal cultivation of hemp within the state. The panel is headed by the horticulture, income and tribal growth Minister Jagat Singh Negi, Chief parliamentary secretary Sundar Singh Thakur, and legislators Janak Raj, Hansraj and Puran Chand are different members of the committee.
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