News:2020-10-06/Policy/ganja-failed-industry-targets-sri-lanka

Sri Lanka·

Ganja: Failed industry targets Sri Lanka

In an opinion piece for The Island, Dr. Dineth Bandara argued against proposals to allow multinational cannabis corporations to cultivate in Sri Lanka, warning that cannabis oil prices had collapsed by over 75% since 2019 and the world's largest cannabis companies had reported billion-dollar losses. He contended that foreign companies were strategically expanding into new markets to recover losses, working through embassy trade sections, and that promises of billions in revenue were illusory. He warned that "protected" plantations would be impossible to secure, that Ayurvedic professionals were being unwittingly co-opted by the industry, and that the ultimate objective was to open the domestic consumer market through incremental regulatory relaxation — comparing the strategy to the British opium trade in China.

Source: https://island.lk/ganja-failed-industry-targets-sri-lanka/