Ramkarpal Singh (PH-Bukit Gelugor) said he welcomed the announcement by health minister Khairy Jamaluddin that the use of medical marijuana was permissible if it did not violate the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, Poisons Act 1952 or the Sale of Drugs Act 1952.
Debating the Supply Bill 2022 in the Dewan Rakyat today, Ramkarpal said marijuana is being used by many countries as alternative medicine, which shows they recognise its use for medicinal purposes.
But, he said, the announcement by Khairy to allow medical marijuana went against the verdict in the case of Muhammad Lukman Mohammad, who was found guilty of selling cannabis oil for medicinal purposes in 2018.
In February, Lukman was spared the gallows after the Federal Court allowed his appeal to set aside his conviction on two counts of drug trafficking.
Ramkarpal said possession of cannabis, depending on the weight, could lead to charges of trafficking and the death penalty.
“If the government’s stand on medical marijuana is accepted, the Dangerous Drugs Act needs to be amended.
“In other words, cannabis needs to be removed from the first schedule of the Dangerous Drugs Act to decriminalise it,” he said.
On another matter, Ramkarpal asked for updates on September’s landmark court ruling that allowed Malaysian mothers to pass their citizenship to their children born overseas.
He said the home ministry had suggested amending the laws and had said the matter would be referred to the Malay rulers, and the attorney-general was also supposed to raise the issue with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
He also asked for an explanation on the low approval rate for mothers to pass their citizenship to their children born overseas.
According to statistics, he said, the home ministry had only approved 21 out of the 2,352 applications received from 2018 to October 2021, or 0.89% of the total applications.
“What is the reason for this low number of approvals?
“This has an impact as it shows a lot of applications are pending. This has resulted in stress on mothers and their families,” he said.
He suggested that a bipartisan committee be set up to look at the technical aspects of the issue.