Death Sentence Dropped For Malaysian Medicinal Cannabis Distributor

By Benjie Cooper

IG: @nuglifenews

YouTube: Lucid’s Vlog

Distributing cannabis in non-legal locales can have a variety of repercussions depending on what area of the world a person decides to do it in. Fines and jail time are two of the more commonly-associated consequences of dealing marijuana, but some places like Malaysia and other countries, it can result in the death penalty.

29-year-old Muhammad Lukman and his pregnant wife were arrested on December 7, 2015, when authorities raided their home and discovered 3.01 liters of cannabis oil, 279 grams of compressed marijuana.

During the resulting trial, Lukman and his attorney Farhan Maaruf explained that the cannabis oil was solely for medicinal use by patients with severe illnesses and that it was provided free of charge to those who could not afford to pay.

While the man’s wife was later released, Luckman was recently convicted on August 30 under the Dangerous Drugs Act and given the death penalty after being found guilty of possessing, processing, and distributing medicinal cannabis.

But Lukman’s sentence sparked a public backlash, with an online petition that has gained tens of thousands of signatures.

Now the Cabinet has granted Lukman a stay of execution, and furthermore, decided to abolish the death penalty entirely.

“As a consensus, we agreed that it (death penalty) should not have been imposed,” said Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq. “At the same time, we have also agreed to put a moratorium on his death penalty.”

Minister Saddiq said that the law should never punish people who use cannabis as medicine.

“So, it’s two accounts. One is death penalty as a whole, which will be taken down,” said Saddiq. “And second, at the same time, the usage of medical marijuana should never be punished by death penalty.”

Paperwork to abolish the death penalty is currently being finalized, and the Attorney General has approved it to be tabled at the next Parliament sitting which begins on October 15.