12 ms·

Malaysian Grandfather Is Facing Death for Weed

uxcolumbo 6y ago
Killing or imprisoning people for using a medicinal plant is crime against humanity. If it can be abused, then regulate it. And yet alcohol is totally fine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- axtscz 6y ago
  To be fair, alcohol has not always been "fine". There have been various times in history where alcohol was prohibited and in fact still is in some countries. As much as what happened is a travesty, alcohol may be a good comparison for what is happening with Cannabis. After the prohibition in the US, Alcohol became legal and frankly widespread. Perhaps the same thing will soon happen for weed
  - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
    Consumption of alcohol seems to be trending down in the West -- the figures for adult males' consumption in the 19th and early 20th century is shocking compared to today. So, lifting prohibition doesn't necessarily lead to higher consumption forever, there are cultural factors (and legal ones like drunk driving being taken more seriously than it once was) that reduce usage.
    - karmelapple 6y ago
      For those looking for a citation: https://daily.jstor.org/a-brief-history-of-drinking-alcohol/ https://daily.jstor.org/a-brief-history-of-drinking-alcohol/ In 1770, colonial Americans drank about 3.5 gallons of alcohol per year - today it’s roughly 2.3. One thing I learned when visiting an old settlement in Iowa: the settlers of the time made sure to have a constant supply of beer. The rate they consumed beer seemed to mean they’d have a slight buzz throughout many days.
      - DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
        for a long time consuming ale was common also for kids in Europe since it was safer to drink than water.
      - sandworm101 6y ago
        In those time "beer" was drunk like water because it was safer than drinking the parasite and disease-infested water. Today we (mostly) all have water that is safe to drink.
        refurb 6y ago
        This is apparently a bit of a myth. There was some knowledge of safe versus unsafe water. “Clean” water supplies weren’t uncommon and alcohol wasn’t a common substitute for clean drinking water. That said, the beer was often weak and watered down so any mention of chronic use should be tempered by the strength of the drink.
      - kevinmchugh 6y ago
        The beer that was being consumed was often table beer, 3%abv at the absolute most. Made with a small amount of malt, left to ferment only a couple days. 3.5 gallons a year means about an ounce and a quarter a day. Drinking a gallon of 1%abv beer every day is probably not great for your liver but you might never feel an alcohol buzz from it. Heavy drinking and all its bad effects were more common back then, but I don't think table beer is the culprit.
        cecilpl2 6y ago
        That number of 3.5 gallons per year is in terms of pure ethanol. 3.5 gallons of ethanol weighs 10,500 grams, which at 14 grams per standard drink is 750 drinks per year, or 2 drinks per day on average. That's quite a lot.
        kevinmchugh 6y ago
        Right, I think we agree on the math here. When we read about people in the 18th century drinking beer with breakfast, they weren't having a standard drink. It was more likely a very low ABV drink. If you drank a gallon of 1%ABV beer every day, you'd have 3.65 gallons of ethanol per year. That's not exactly what was happening - binges on whiskey and rum were common, but they weren't constantly buzzed, either. That much alcohol is going to be bad for a liver no matter how you drink it. I don't think this was healthy. My point is just that there was less inebriation than we suppose when we think about drinking beer with breakfast
- DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
  > And yet alcohol is totally fine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ since this is Malaysia it needs a disclaimer: "except for Muslims" I would also not drink in certain places like Kelantan and Terengganu[1] even as a non-Muslim otherwise the locals might get really upset :) One colleague got caught carrying weed into KL int airport from NZ (< 3gramm) in '97 for personal consumption (the idiot). He was supposed to go offshore with us (work on oil-rigs). Instead he spent 5 nights in prison. Our office (a large US diving company) sent their local lawyer to pay a bribe and get him back to work. It was a minor inconvenience that could have ended really badly. If you ever get yourself arrested in such a country make sure to contact a lawyer. Avoid contacting your embassy as the first step (which often escalates situations in ways the country is supposed to "act tough".) Better yet don't smuggle drugs (even if it's just weed) [1] https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/liquor-control-bill-how-other-countries-and-cities-in-asia-tackle-drinking https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/liquor-control-bill-h... which reads: > Muslims are barred from drinking alcohol. Non-Muslims do not face any curbs but some local governments discourage the sale of alcohol in neighbourhoods that are predominantly Muslim. In the states of Kelantan and Terengganu, alcohol bans are enforced in places like hotels, but non-Muslim establishments like Chinese restaurants and sundry shops are pretty much left alone.
  - BelenusMordred 6y ago
    > alcohol bans are enforced in places like hotels Kelantan has some crazy rules but you can definitely drink to excess in a tourist hotel or on the islands without any concern. The Perhentians is certainly not a pious place of purity, it gets fairly loose there. > If you ever get yourself arrested in such a country make sure to contact a lawyer. Not getting arrested in the first place is what you should really be doing. In basically all of South-East Asia on-the-spot fines are routine and expected. If you don't go that route and it hits the books you are in for a world of trouble and no amount of coffee money will save you. Not endorsing this, simply saying that's how it works.
    - ValentineC 6y ago
      > In basically all of South-East Asia on-the-spot fines are routine and expected. If you don't go that route and it hits the books you are in for a world of trouble and no amount of coffee money will save you. Except in Singapore. Don't bribe the cops in Singapore — the police and other law enforcement officials are paid a very decent wage here [1], and they'll just report you to save their own skin. [1] https://www.police.gov.sg/Join-SPF/Police-Officer/Direct-Entry-Sergeant https://www.police.gov.sg/Join-SPF/Police-Officer/Direct-Ent...
- ekianjo 6y ago
  > killing or imprisoning people for using a medicinal plant is crime against humanity SE Asia was hit hard by opium. not so long ago.
  - andi999 6y ago
    To what time period and what situation are you referring?
    - ekianjo 6y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China
      - andi999 6y ago
        Thanks. China is considered part of East asia, and not SE Asia though.
beervirus 6y ago
Lots of countries have laws that are abhorrent to us. Death penalty for weed, death penalty for being gay, etc.
- DocTomoe 6y ago
  ... death penalty for anything is pretty much a sign for a barbaric society.
  - sokoloff 6y ago
    There will always be a tiny sliver of the population who prove themselves unsuitable/unable/unsafe to live freely with society and that society has to deal with them somehow. Whether it’s better to lock them away to suffer an isolated existence for life or sentence them to die is a matter that can be debated I think, as both paths have elements that are more terrible than the other.
    - eznzt 6y ago
      Locking them away might sound better, but remember the state has to pay for them until they die, which really sucks.
      - matwood 6y ago
        What really sucks is killing someone that we find out later was not guilty. One of the many problems with the death penalty is that it's permanent.
        sokoloff 6y ago
        Locking someone away wrongly for a year or twenty years is also permanent in that they can’t get that life/time back, even if they’re still alive when found not guilty. It’s just permanent and slightly smaller, but still a horrific theft IMO.
        6y ago
juanani 6y ago
Shameful this is happening but I was curious to why are these laws so strict there? Was it because of why/when they were written? Maybe some info on how seriously the locals live by these laws? The article could have explored that regions' strictness more, it just repeats the title, over and over into a few paragraphs. Similar to news coverage of a fire.
- kumarsw 6y ago
  I'll take a try at this. The answer is some combination of: 1. Traditional Asian values 2. Legacy of British colonial law. Punishment by hanging and caning were introduced by the British 3. Southeast Asia was a drug trafficking hotspot in the 70s. IIRC at least some of the harsh drug penalties are from recent times as a reaction to that
  - refurb 6y ago
    This is a much more accurate answer than “Islam”. Just like US drug laws aren’t driven by one thing but rather a combination of moral fears, racism, fear of crime, intent to protect people from themselves, etc.
    - myklcc 6y ago
      Islam as a contributing factor is a signficant ommision from the list you are replying to, mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undang-Undang_Melaka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undang-Undang_Melaka
    - bitwize 6y ago
      Let's not forget Big Paper and Big Plastic, both of whom are threatened by a thriving hemp industry.
      - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
        The claim of industrial hemp being held down, is something one mainly hears from Americans unaware that there is an entire world outside their borders. In many other countries, though cannabis as a drug might be restricted, hemp for industrial use was never banned. Yet modern industry has shown little interest in use of hemp because, indeed, paper and plastic in their current forms are regarded as superior.
nvilcins 6y ago
Make no mistake, drug suppression benefits many parties: governments to have a tight control over the people (their consciousness), and entities that profit from the situation and would be harmed by drug liberalization (both "legal" businesses and underground drug industry). And they will hold the regulation tight as long as they can, regardless of what's actually best for people all things considered. Hence the absolutely disproportionate and draconic laws in many parts of the world (including the developed countries). However, the biggest offenders in my view are the "unthinking masses" that dictate the overall view on drugs and drug use, hence, block reason and change. For some reason when it comes to drugs it's allowed to have a really strong opinion and say on how _others_ should live based on either absolutely nothing, or fear-mongering fuelled by the aforementioned beneficiaries. Yes, drugs do harm people, but not intrinsically. People die from over-doses because of mis-information and not knowing what they get (from the random guy on the street). People get hooked but mostly as an expression of underlying problems. Why is alcoholism and gambling more OK? And do we help people by taking their substances but leaving them in the same shitty life situation? That's just patting yourself on the back for actually not doing anything. At the same time people use responsibly as well, you just don't hear from them because, well, why would they tell you about it if it means getting ostracized, thrown in jail, or killed? If you don't stay neutral if you haven't at all educated yourself about this fairly complex topic (which it totally fine), you are on the wrong side of history, the witch-hunter of today, and will be frowned upon by the future generations.
- _fat_santa 6y ago
  I can't help but imagine in 20-30 years the wold is going to on an "Apology Tour" over cannabis. The dam has broken on cannabis legalization, and the laws in some of these countries I feel is hanging on by a thread at this point. At some point in the future everyone will come to their senses and were going to have days of remembrance for people that we harmed in the drug war, I hope.
  - Chris2048 6y ago
    It's easy to say "you are on the wrong side of history.". When will the world come to its senses on abortion/meat-eating/capitalism etc?
mssundaram 6y ago
> chocolate bars and brownie edibles made with hemp seed oil The article continues to refer to "hemp seed oil". Is that a mistake from the author? The seed oil has no medicinal properties. The processed oil from the flowers and to some extent that leaves is what contains medicinal value.
refurb 6y ago
As someone who has spent time in Asia the drug laws can sometimes be quite draconian. From what I’ve gathered it’s mostly due to the association of drugs with crime. Of course that association is often (but not solely) driven by the laws themselves. Combine that with a more conservative social view (either Confucian or Islamic) and your end up with a lot of agreement with the use of severe punishments. The interesting thing is that many parts of these countries where the central government wields less power you see a pretty laissez faire attitude. If problems done arise it’s ignored. I saw this in Morocco as well. An official policy of marijuana prohibition but small towns had pretty open marijuana use.
joncrane 6y ago
His court date is today. Is Malaysia ahead or behind US time? We may know the result soon, or even already.
- xtracto 6y ago
  Sorry but I chuckled at your comment > Is Malaysia ahead or behind US time? We may know the result soon, or even already. I think the only places that are "behind US times" is the Aleutian islands (the Russian ones, the US ones well.. are part of the US).
simonh 6y ago
The death penalty for drugs offences has quite a bit of popular support in Malaysia, but there are signs this support could be quite fragile. In studies of people who say they support the mandatory death penalty, when faced with 'judging' specific cases and given the option of recommending the death penalty or another sentence as most appropriate, they very often shy away from recommending the death penalty as appropriate. It's one thing to give a blanket answer, but quite another to stick to that line when faced with decisions about particular circumstances.
rorykoehler 6y ago
Malaysia is planning (or at least was planning) to decriminalise cannabis. Also it seems to me that they are much more relaxed about it than they let on. For example I came out of a business meeting in KL and there were 2 guys casually smoking weed at the entrance to the office tower.
nashashmi 6y ago
The bias in the headline is apparent. Referring to the guy’s family position as a cause for sympathy. It does not stop there. Details of what he did was he didn’t “disclose” the hemp ingredients in the product he sold. That is illegal anywhere. Further people who bought it did not want to buy hemp. That was deceit. Death penalty is anger.
slothtrop 6y ago
Derailing: Leaving aside that these drug laws are draconian, strict punishment does appear to have an impact on crime when observing 1st world countries. Japanese poverty rate for example is reportedly 16% and the last official rate in the U.S. was 10.5%, but has one of the lowest murder rates in the world. People like to chalk this up to mere "culture", which is absurd. Culture changes, and is itself informed by various factors which can include the law. The rehabilitation proponents skeptical of punishment tend to focus on recidivism only. The only question to ask is whether the severity of punishment is warranted.
- watwut 6y ago
  America has pretty strict punishments. It locks up quite a lot of people and for long. Another factor in murders is gun control - America has much bigger prevalence of guns. And most murders are in the moment escalation - impulsive acts, arguments that went out of hand and so on. When gun is present, people are more likely to pick them up and kill someone. If they are not present, the same thing does not end in death.
  - slothtrop 6y ago
    And yet, not as strict. It's a revolving door with high recidivism. Violent crime tends to scale more with poverty. The relationship with firearm laws is weak. See: the U.K.
    - tt433 6y ago
      This idea that we need to be stricter is what led to the crime bills now under bipartisan attack
    - watwut 6y ago
      USA is more strict. Also, Japan lock up much much less people then America. Yet also, Americans are obsessed with idea of punishment. Their first idea of what to do with basically any issue is to punish more.
- WhompingWindows 6y ago
systemvoltage 6y ago
What is the enforcement like for Marijuana in the EU? Why isn’t it legalized there yet? The US will be legalizing it nationwide most likely in this decade. Honestly, I would expect EU to take the lead in liberal drug policies more than anyone else.
ulisesrmzroche 6y ago
Oh, yeah, I remember this. I saw a doc a few weeks ago about this, “My Father, Dr. G”. Malaysia has some crazy drug laws still, but that’s to be expected from a muslim country. But they’re actually making really good progress when it comes to decriminalized cannabis, comparatively speaking.

Killing or imprisoning people for using a medicinal plant is crime against humanity. If it can be abused, then regulate it. And yet alcohol is totally fine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
axtscz 6y ago
To be fair, alcohol has not always been "fine". There have been various times in history where alcohol was prohibited and in fact still is in some countries. As much as what happened is a travesty, alcohol may be a good comparison for what is happening with Cannabis. After the prohibition in the US, Alcohol became legal and frankly widespread. Perhaps the same thing will soon happen for weed
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  Consumption of alcohol seems to be trending down in the West -- the figures for adult males' consumption in the 19th and early 20th century is shocking compared to today. So, lifting prohibition doesn't necessarily lead to higher consumption forever, there are cultural factors (and legal ones like drunk driving being taken more seriously than it once was) that reduce usage.
  - karmelapple 6y ago
    For those looking for a citation: https://daily.jstor.org/a-brief-history-of-drinking-alcohol/ https://daily.jstor.org/a-brief-history-of-drinking-alcohol/ In 1770, colonial Americans drank about 3.5 gallons of alcohol per year - today it’s roughly 2.3. One thing I learned when visiting an old settlement in Iowa: the settlers of the time made sure to have a constant supply of beer. The rate they consumed beer seemed to mean they’d have a slight buzz throughout many days.
    - DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
      for a long time consuming ale was common also for kids in Europe since it was safer to drink than water.
    - sandworm101 6y ago
      In those time "beer" was drunk like water because it was safer than drinking the parasite and disease-infested water. Today we (mostly) all have water that is safe to drink.
      - refurb 6y ago
        This is apparently a bit of a myth. There was some knowledge of safe versus unsafe water. “Clean” water supplies weren’t uncommon and alcohol wasn’t a common substitute for clean drinking water. That said, the beer was often weak and watered down so any mention of chronic use should be tempered by the strength of the drink.
    - kevinmchugh 6y ago
      The beer that was being consumed was often table beer, 3%abv at the absolute most. Made with a small amount of malt, left to ferment only a couple days. 3.5 gallons a year means about an ounce and a quarter a day. Drinking a gallon of 1%abv beer every day is probably not great for your liver but you might never feel an alcohol buzz from it. Heavy drinking and all its bad effects were more common back then, but I don't think table beer is the culprit.
      - cecilpl2 6y ago
        That number of 3.5 gallons per year is in terms of pure ethanol. 3.5 gallons of ethanol weighs 10,500 grams, which at 14 grams per standard drink is 750 drinks per year, or 2 drinks per day on average. That's quite a lot.
        kevinmchugh 6y ago
        Right, I think we agree on the math here. When we read about people in the 18th century drinking beer with breakfast, they weren't having a standard drink. It was more likely a very low ABV drink. If you drank a gallon of 1%ABV beer every day, you'd have 3.65 gallons of ethanol per year. That's not exactly what was happening - binges on whiskey and rum were common, but they weren't constantly buzzed, either. That much alcohol is going to be bad for a liver no matter how you drink it. I don't think this was healthy. My point is just that there was less inebriation than we suppose when we think about drinking beer with breakfast
DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
> And yet alcohol is totally fine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ since this is Malaysia it needs a disclaimer: "except for Muslims" I would also not drink in certain places like Kelantan and Terengganu[1] even as a non-Muslim otherwise the locals might get really upset :) One colleague got caught carrying weed into KL int airport from NZ (< 3gramm) in '97 for personal consumption (the idiot). He was supposed to go offshore with us (work on oil-rigs). Instead he spent 5 nights in prison. Our office (a large US diving company) sent their local lawyer to pay a bribe and get him back to work. It was a minor inconvenience that could have ended really badly. If you ever get yourself arrested in such a country make sure to contact a lawyer. Avoid contacting your embassy as the first step (which often escalates situations in ways the country is supposed to "act tough".) Better yet don't smuggle drugs (even if it's just weed) [1] https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/liquor-control-bill-how-other-countries-and-cities-in-asia-tackle-drinking https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/liquor-control-bill-h... which reads: > Muslims are barred from drinking alcohol. Non-Muslims do not face any curbs but some local governments discourage the sale of alcohol in neighbourhoods that are predominantly Muslim. In the states of Kelantan and Terengganu, alcohol bans are enforced in places like hotels, but non-Muslim establishments like Chinese restaurants and sundry shops are pretty much left alone.
- BelenusMordred 6y ago
  > alcohol bans are enforced in places like hotels Kelantan has some crazy rules but you can definitely drink to excess in a tourist hotel or on the islands without any concern. The Perhentians is certainly not a pious place of purity, it gets fairly loose there. > If you ever get yourself arrested in such a country make sure to contact a lawyer. Not getting arrested in the first place is what you should really be doing. In basically all of South-East Asia on-the-spot fines are routine and expected. If you don't go that route and it hits the books you are in for a world of trouble and no amount of coffee money will save you. Not endorsing this, simply saying that's how it works.
  - ValentineC 6y ago
    > In basically all of South-East Asia on-the-spot fines are routine and expected. If you don't go that route and it hits the books you are in for a world of trouble and no amount of coffee money will save you. Except in Singapore. Don't bribe the cops in Singapore — the police and other law enforcement officials are paid a very decent wage here [1], and they'll just report you to save their own skin. [1] https://www.police.gov.sg/Join-SPF/Police-Officer/Direct-Entry-Sergeant https://www.police.gov.sg/Join-SPF/Police-Officer/Direct-Ent...
ekianjo 6y ago
> killing or imprisoning people for using a medicinal plant is crime against humanity SE Asia was hit hard by opium. not so long ago.
- andi999 6y ago
  To what time period and what situation are you referring?
  - ekianjo 6y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China
    - andi999 6y ago
      Thanks. China is considered part of East asia, and not SE Asia though.

beervirus 6y ago

Lots of countries have laws that are abhorrent to us. Death penalty for weed, death penalty for being gay, etc.

DocTomoe 6y ago
... death penalty for anything is pretty much a sign for a barbaric society.
- sokoloff 6y ago
  There will always be a tiny sliver of the population who prove themselves unsuitable/unable/unsafe to live freely with society and that society has to deal with them somehow. Whether it’s better to lock them away to suffer an isolated existence for life or sentence them to die is a matter that can be debated I think, as both paths have elements that are more terrible than the other.
  - eznzt 6y ago
    Locking them away might sound better, but remember the state has to pay for them until they die, which really sucks.
    - matwood 6y ago
      What really sucks is killing someone that we find out later was not guilty. One of the many problems with the death penalty is that it's permanent.
      - sokoloff 6y ago
        Locking someone away wrongly for a year or twenty years is also permanent in that they can’t get that life/time back, even if they’re still alive when found not guilty. It’s just permanent and slightly smaller, but still a horrific theft IMO.
        6y ago

juanani 6y ago

Shameful this is happening but I was curious to why are these laws so strict there? Was it because of why/when they were written? Maybe some info on how seriously the locals live by these laws? The article could have explored that regions' strictness more, it just repeats the title, over and over into a few paragraphs. Similar to news coverage of a fire.

kumarsw 6y ago
I'll take a try at this. The answer is some combination of: 1. Traditional Asian values 2. Legacy of British colonial law. Punishment by hanging and caning were introduced by the British 3. Southeast Asia was a drug trafficking hotspot in the 70s. IIRC at least some of the harsh drug penalties are from recent times as a reaction to that
- refurb 6y ago
  This is a much more accurate answer than “Islam”. Just like US drug laws aren’t driven by one thing but rather a combination of moral fears, racism, fear of crime, intent to protect people from themselves, etc.
  - myklcc 6y ago
    Islam as a contributing factor is a signficant ommision from the list you are replying to, mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undang-Undang_Melaka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undang-Undang_Melaka
  - bitwize 6y ago
    Let's not forget Big Paper and Big Plastic, both of whom are threatened by a thriving hemp industry.
    - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
      The claim of industrial hemp being held down, is something one mainly hears from Americans unaware that there is an entire world outside their borders. In many other countries, though cannabis as a drug might be restricted, hemp for industrial use was never banned. Yet modern industry has shown little interest in use of hemp because, indeed, paper and plastic in their current forms are regarded as superior.

nvilcins 6y ago

Make no mistake, drug suppression benefits many parties: governments to have a tight control over the people (their consciousness), and entities that profit from the situation and would be harmed by drug liberalization (both "legal" businesses and underground drug industry). And they will hold the regulation tight as long as they can, regardless of what's actually best for people all things considered. Hence the absolutely disproportionate and draconic laws in many parts of the world (including the developed countries). However, the biggest offenders in my view are the "unthinking masses" that dictate the overall view on drugs and drug use, hence, block reason and change. For some reason when it comes to drugs it's allowed to have a really strong opinion and say on how _others_ should live based on either absolutely nothing, or fear-mongering fuelled by the aforementioned beneficiaries. Yes, drugs do harm people, but not intrinsically. People die from over-doses because of mis-information and not knowing what they get (from the random guy on the street). People get hooked but mostly as an expression of underlying problems. Why is alcoholism and gambling more OK? And do we help people by taking their substances but leaving them in the same shitty life situation? That's just patting yourself on the back for actually not doing anything. At the same time people use responsibly as well, you just don't hear from them because, well, why would they tell you about it if it means getting ostracized, thrown in jail, or killed? If you don't stay neutral if you haven't at all educated yourself about this fairly complex topic (which it totally fine), you are on the wrong side of history, the witch-hunter of today, and will be frowned upon by the future generations.

_fat_santa 6y ago
I can't help but imagine in 20-30 years the wold is going to on an "Apology Tour" over cannabis. The dam has broken on cannabis legalization, and the laws in some of these countries I feel is hanging on by a thread at this point. At some point in the future everyone will come to their senses and were going to have days of remembrance for people that we harmed in the drug war, I hope.
- Chris2048 6y ago
  It's easy to say "you are on the wrong side of history.". When will the world come to its senses on abortion/meat-eating/capitalism etc?

mssundaram 6y ago

> chocolate bars and brownie edibles made with hemp seed oil The article continues to refer to "hemp seed oil". Is that a mistake from the author? The seed oil has no medicinal properties. The processed oil from the flowers and to some extent that leaves is what contains medicinal value.

refurb 6y ago

As someone who has spent time in Asia the drug laws can sometimes be quite draconian. From what I’ve gathered it’s mostly due to the association of drugs with crime. Of course that association is often (but not solely) driven by the laws themselves. Combine that with a more conservative social view (either Confucian or Islamic) and your end up with a lot of agreement with the use of severe punishments. The interesting thing is that many parts of these countries where the central government wields less power you see a pretty laissez faire attitude. If problems done arise it’s ignored. I saw this in Morocco as well. An official policy of marijuana prohibition but small towns had pretty open marijuana use.

joncrane 6y ago

His court date is today. Is Malaysia ahead or behind US time? We may know the result soon, or even already.

xtracto 6y ago
Sorry but I chuckled at your comment > Is Malaysia ahead or behind US time? We may know the result soon, or even already. I think the only places that are "behind US times" is the Aleutian islands (the Russian ones, the US ones well.. are part of the US).

simonh 6y ago

The death penalty for drugs offences has quite a bit of popular support in Malaysia, but there are signs this support could be quite fragile. In studies of people who say they support the mandatory death penalty, when faced with 'judging' specific cases and given the option of recommending the death penalty or another sentence as most appropriate, they very often shy away from recommending the death penalty as appropriate. It's one thing to give a blanket answer, but quite another to stick to that line when faced with decisions about particular circumstances.

rorykoehler 6y ago

Malaysia is planning (or at least was planning) to decriminalise cannabis. Also it seems to me that they are much more relaxed about it than they let on. For example I came out of a business meeting in KL and there were 2 guys casually smoking weed at the entrance to the office tower.

nashashmi 6y ago

The bias in the headline is apparent. Referring to the guy’s family position as a cause for sympathy. It does not stop there. Details of what he did was he didn’t “disclose” the hemp ingredients in the product he sold. That is illegal anywhere. Further people who bought it did not want to buy hemp. That was deceit. Death penalty is anger.

slothtrop 6y ago

Derailing: Leaving aside that these drug laws are draconian, strict punishment does appear to have an impact on crime when observing 1st world countries. Japanese poverty rate for example is reportedly 16% and the last official rate in the U.S. was 10.5%, but has one of the lowest murder rates in the world. People like to chalk this up to mere "culture", which is absurd. Culture changes, and is itself informed by various factors which can include the law. The rehabilitation proponents skeptical of punishment tend to focus on recidivism only. The only question to ask is whether the severity of punishment is warranted.

watwut 6y ago
America has pretty strict punishments. It locks up quite a lot of people and for long. Another factor in murders is gun control - America has much bigger prevalence of guns. And most murders are in the moment escalation - impulsive acts, arguments that went out of hand and so on. When gun is present, people are more likely to pick them up and kill someone. If they are not present, the same thing does not end in death.
- slothtrop 6y ago
  And yet, not as strict. It's a revolving door with high recidivism. Violent crime tends to scale more with poverty. The relationship with firearm laws is weak. See: the U.K.
  - tt433 6y ago
    This idea that we need to be stricter is what led to the crime bills now under bipartisan attack
  - watwut 6y ago
    USA is more strict. Also, Japan lock up much much less people then America. Yet also, Americans are obsessed with idea of punishment. Their first idea of what to do with basically any issue is to punish more.
WhompingWindows 6y ago

systemvoltage 6y ago

What is the enforcement like for Marijuana in the EU? Why isn’t it legalized there yet? The US will be legalizing it nationwide most likely in this decade. Honestly, I would expect EU to take the lead in liberal drug policies more than anyone else.

ulisesrmzroche 6y ago

Oh, yeah, I remember this. I saw a doc a few weeks ago about this, “My Father, Dr. G”. Malaysia has some crazy drug laws still, but that’s to be expected from a muslim country. But they’re actually making really good progress when it comes to decriminalized cannabis, comparatively speaking.