Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul plans to include marijuana extract in the National List of Essential Medicines to cut the expenses of patients and increase their access to medicine.
In a workshop on hemp-based health products at the IMPACT Exhibition Center in Nonthaburi, Mr Anutin said extract from marijuana and hemp was internationally recognized for having medical benefits so the government planned to allow people to grow the plants for medical and industrial purposes.
The idea would increase people’s income but its implementation must be carefully planned to prevent negative impacts on society, he said.
Permission for people’s cultivation of marijuana was a part of amendments to the Narcotic Act and the Council of State was scrutinizing them.
Mr Anutin said the legal amendment would allow each person to grow more than six marijuana plants and he discussed with the National Health Security Office the inclusion of marijuana extract in the National List of Essential Medicines to reduce people’s costs of health care and provide them with more choices of treatment. (TNA)
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