News
Call for legalising cannabis: President stresses need for policy decision
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said that a policy decision will have to be made as the request for legalizing cannabis for medical purposes.
The President said so while participating in the Eighth Discussion with the Village Programme (Gama Samaga Piliusandarak) on the banks of the Kukulkatuwa tank in Thanamalwila Aluthwewa Grama Niladhari Division, Monaragala, on Saturday. He was answering a question raised by an academic, who said that cannabis was mostly grown in Moneragala and the cultivators faced legal constraints as the plant was illegal. “The plant is widely used in the Hela and Ayurvedic medicinal systems. The medicine is made from the plants that are cultivated by those farmers. However, the farmers are considered an unwanted lot. This situation could be rectified if the government legalizes the plant. Even the United Nations recently announced that the plant would no longer be considered a narcotic but a medicinal herb with healing powers.”
“A policy decision has to be made in this regard, and a policy will have to be formulated,” the President said.
The academic said that he had conducted studies on the plant for years and written two books. He wanted to present them to the President. One of the books is a draft policy proposal, the academic said.
President Rajapaksa said that he had read one of them and asked the academic to submit the draft policy proposal.
The academic said that the government should pay special attention to removing the legal barriers so that it would become an income generating plant and the farmers in the district could be benefited mostly. The government should introduce a mechanism to prevent the abuse of the plant instead of banning it completely.
The President asked the District Secretary what his opinion was.
The District Secretary said that discussions in this regard so far had been conducted only at the lower level but the decisions to legalise should be made at higher levels.
President Rajapaksa instructed all departments and institutions, including Wildlife, Forestry, Environment and Land, to formulate new laws in the interest of the people, taking into account requests from the public.
President Rajapaksa said that by Friday he has signed 17,000 deeds that have been finalised after resolving the issues.
Uva Provincial Governor A.J.M. Muzammil, State Ministers Shasheendra Rajapaksa, Vijitha Berugoda, MPs Jagath Pushpakumara, Kumarasiri Ratnayake, Dayashan Navanandana, former Member of Parliament Sumedha G. Jayasena, Chief Adviser to the President Lalith Weeratunga and a large number of people’s representatives, Secretaries to Ministries, Heads of Government Institutions and the Security Forces participated in the ‘Discussion with the Village’ programme held at the Kukulkatuwa Lake.
The “Discussion with the Village” programme was launched on September 25, 2020, in the Badulla District. Past programmes were organized covering Matale, Ratnapura, Anuradhapura, Ampara, Polonnaruwa and Kalutara districts.
In a swift search and rescue (SAR) operation, the Sri Lanka Navy on 22 Jun 2026 rendered assistance to a one-day fishing trawler that had failed to return to its intended destination.
Reportedly, the fishing trawler and its 02 crew members ran into trouble due to adverse weather conditions off the north coast of the island. The rescue mission was launched
immediately following an alert from the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources regarding the overdue trawler.
Responding to the distress call, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Colombo, coordinated the deployment of naval craft for the SAR operation.
During the operation, naval personnel located the distressed trawler and its 02 fishermen in the seas off the Analaitivu Island and they were brought to safety.
Maintaining a round-the-clock vigil, the Sri Lanka Navy, through the coordination of MRCC Colombo, remains constantly prepared to deploy assets and extend vital lifesaving assistance to the naval and fishing communities facing perils within the Sri
Lankan Search and Rescue Region.
The NPP government has not taken a final decision regarding filling of the vacancies in the judiciary.
A group of Opposition MPs, led by SJB leader Sajith Premadasa, on 12 June, requested Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickremeratne to take up the issue of judicial vacancies with President Dissanayake. Opposition sources said that there were four vacancies, each in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, and the inordinate delay had adversely affected the judiciary.
Government sources indicated that there was no change in the status quo as regards filling of vacancies. Referring to the government proposal to extend the retirement age of judges, authoritative sources said that no final decision had been taken yet.
SJB lawmaker Dayasiri Jayasekera told The Island that they would raise the issue in Parliament this week.
He said that the deliberate delay in making appointments to superior courts and the move to extend the retirement age couldn’t be taken separately.
The MP noted that the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the Lawyers’ Collective, the Colombo High Court Lawyers’ Association, Colombo Magistrate’s Court Lawyers’ Association and the Bar Association of Badulla had opposed the government move.
There hadn’t been any public statements in support of the government move, MP Jayasekera said, urging the government to end uncertainty in the judiciary.
by Shamindra Ferdinando
SJB leader Sajith Premadasa has invited the UNP and other political parties to join his party. Premadasa, who is also the leader of the Opposition, has emphasised that the UNP and the SJB could reach a consensus on policies but his party wouldn’t, under any circumstances, accept whatever formula to share positions. Premadasa said so, speaking to the media over the weekend, after meeting the Mahanayaka Thera of the Malwatta Chapter of the Siyam Nikaya Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera.
A statement issued by the Opposition Leader’s Office quoted MP Premadasa as having extended an invitation to all political parties to give up extremist policies and join the SJB.
The SJB leader alleged that the NPP government feared facing elections and that was the reason for the inordinate delay in holding Provincial Council polls. PC polls were last held in 2012, 2013 and 2014, on a staggered basis. Premadasa said that if PC polls were held his party would definitely win the majority of PCs.Premadasa also urged the government to reduce electricity tariffs and fuel prices.
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