SRI Lanka plans to lift a ban on growing cannabis and begin government cultivation of the plant, which is a key ingredient in traditional medicine, a minister was quoted saying today.

Indigenous Medicine Minister Tissa Karaliyadde said he hoped to introduce a bill in parliament to allow practitioners of herbal medicine known as ayurveda to grow at least five plants each.

The state itself hopes to start cultivation and land has already been earmarked for the pilot project, The Island newspaper quoted Karaliyadde saying.

Despite an official ban on cannabis in Sri Lanka, it is easily available on the clandestine market both for traditional healers and smokers.