KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today said the first meeting of the Cannabis and Ketum Industry Development Committee will take place on Monday.

Khairy, who chairs the committee, explained that the panel will draw up the basic framework for the registration of derivative medicines after dissecting experts’ evidence and input on the safe medical use of both drugs.

"This will have a positive effect on ketum farmers in Malaysia, who can now have a piece of the economy from the sales of their ketum,” he said.

The Rembau MP said that while the skeleton for the registration of ketum products is still a while away, he expected this to be ready for products containing cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive compound of cannabis, by the end of this year.

Khairy was responding to Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar (PKR - Hang Tuah Jaya), who asked the minister about the roadmap for the legalisation of ketum products in Malaysia.

On July 14, Khairy said that his ministry aims to conduct the registration of some CBD products in 2023, adding that the framework for the CBD product registration will be obtained this year and the National Pharmaceutical Regulation Agency (NPRA) will assess the proposals.

He also stressed that the use of CBD would be on prescription only, not for personal and self-medicating use and would never encompass recreational use.

* The report previously misnamed the committee and has since been corrected.