NA adopts cannabis control bill

On Friday, the National Assembly adopted the Senate’s Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority Bill, 2024 with modifications.

The bill regulates the growing, extraction, refining, manufacturing, and selling of cannabis plant derivatives for industrial and medical use.

Azam Nazeer Tarar, the Minister of Law and Justice, introduced the measure in the House. The minister asked the chair for approval before presenting the measure with certain changes made. The bill was passed by the House clause by clause.

Under the chairmanship of Senator Kamil Ali Agha, the committee thoroughly examined the bill, and he noted that all errors had been fixed. He also thanked each committee member for their contributions.

Asserting that there was no ambiguity surrounding the Authority’s formation and that the issue had already been discussed in the National Assembly, the minister said, “This activity is being carried out in conjunction with the Commerce Ministry to develop an export mechanism, while the provinces will address the production matter in accordance with their regulations. This is a state obligation under the Vienna Convention. He said, “The Bill has been adopted by the National Assembly.

Senator Jan Muhammad of the National Party said that the subject matter of the Bill was provincial in nature and did not belong on the federal legislative agenda. He said the Senate was the House of the Federation, with equal representation from each and every federating entity.

As the provinces will draft laws according to their own areas of expertise, Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro of the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) stated that the Amendment should be made to confine the Bill to the ICT jurisdiction.

The Balochistan Awami Party’s (BAP) senator Danesh Kumar claimed that the provinces should only control cannabis plants at the federating unit level because they are already doing it internationally.

Provincial participation in the Authority was lacking, according to Senator Kamran Murtaza of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (JUIP).