Sanusi claimed exporting ketum would end the rampant smuggling of the leaves and reduce its availability locally.
“It is just a proposal. If it cannot be considered, we are okay with it. If there are new rules on this, we will wait for a decision. There is a lot of good in allowing it to be exported rather than just leaving it to grow wild here, which leads to smuggling and abuse.
“The sin is not the ketum leaf itself, but the abuse of ketum as a drug,” he said at a press conference at the state assembly sitting today.
Sanusi’s clarification comes after a DAP representative accused him of practising double standards in trying to legalise ketum but banning gaming shops which were legal under federal law.
Sanusi said a proposal paper with input from experts in the field and growers would be presented to health and security officials in Putrajaya soon.
Sanusi is going ahead with the proposal paper despite home minister Hamzah Zainudin saying on March 17 that Kedah would not be allowed to export ketum leaves to Thailand.
“If all goes well, we can ask an agency or a state government company or anyone to export fresh ketum leaves,” he said.
Earlier in his winding-up speech, Sanusi said ketum had been growing wild for decades, with Padang Terap alone having close to 80ha of the plant.
He recounted seeing how ketum leaves were crushed into drinks as a cure for withdrawal symptoms from more addictive drugs.
Growers can make RM1,000 a month
Separately, the Kedah assembly was told that some 600,000 farmers stood to benefit from the cultivation of ketum because of demand from pharmaceutical companies abroad.
State executive councillor Firdaus Ahmad said growers stood to make at least RM1,000 monthly by harvesting 10 plants. He claimed growers in Kalimantan, Indonesia, had generated RM10 million worth of ketum export to Europe.
He supported Sanusi’s ketum export idea, as it was an easy plant to grow given its short maturity and high yield.
Previously, Sanusi said Kedah’s ketum prices could reach as high as RM150 a kilogramme in Thailand.
Locally, a kilogramme of ketum was being sold for RM30. Currently, substances made from ketum leaves are illegal.