KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry will soon announce a framework, enabling certain cannabidiol (CBD) products to be registered by next year.
Its minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the framework would be released “sometime this year”, adding that the ministry would be inviting proposal submissions of CBD products that should be registered.
“The ministry is committed towards evidence and science, so what it means is that if the science is showing us in a particular direction, then we can’t avoid it.
“The science (of CBD products) to me, I’m convinced. I’m working internally to ensure everyone in the Health Ministry is behind this,” he said at the launch of The Centre’s report on Malaysians’ Views Towards Drug-Related Issues.
Khairy said the CBD products should be for self-medicating purposes, and be prescribed by a healthcare professional.
Training and education of medical officers, he added, would be required to ensure they understood the circumstances which allowed the prescription of CBD products.
“It has to be stepwise and calibrated in how we do this.
“I think we are ready; the debate has been useful. Next year is a good target.”
In April, Khairy had said that the ministry welcomed any industry or academia-initiated research for the medicinal use of CBD.
On Nov 17, 2021, he had said the applications for the use of cannabis for medical purposes could be submitted to the Drug Control Authority for evaluation and registration if there was sufficient scientific evidence for it to be marketed.- NST