"COMPANIES IN China have expressed strong interest in growing cannabis for medicinal and industrial purposes in Myanmar, although legal cultivation of even non-intoxicating strains of the plant, known as hemp, would require changes to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law. The moves come as demand soars in many countries for products made from cannabis to treat a range of ailments, including chronic pain, and for making paper, textiles, construction materials and health food. More than 30 nations have legalised the medical use of marijuana – the name used for intoxicating strains of cannabis – including neighbouring Thailand last year, the first country in Southeast Asia to do so. Meanwhile, demand in the United States has soared in recent years for cannabidiol, or CBD, a compound extracted from hemp that is used in health and beauty oils, sprays and balms. This lucrative market is largely supplied by sprawling plantations in faraway China, where domestic CBD sales are banned. The legal use of cannabis generates billions of dollars and it’s a market with huge potential in Myanmar, which has ample land and the right climate for the crop, and thousands of farmers eager to cash in on cultivating cannabis..."