KUALA LUMPUR – Former chief judge Tun Zaki Azmi has questioned the severe laws against the import and use of medical cannabis in the country, especially for patients in need of it.
He urged the government to ease restrictions on the use of medical cannabis, including CBD (cannabidiol), for treatment purposes and to put it on the Poisons Act 1952 so it can be imported.
“There is a provision in Section 47 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 that empowers the minister to make regulations to provide exemptions for research purposes and medical prescriptions.
“Morphine, heroin and codeine are more potent than cannabis. However, the law allows such drugs to be used as prescription medicines,” he was quoted as saying by Getaran, The Vibes’ Bahasa Malaysia sister portal.
He told reporters this after the Medical Cannabis, Facts and Benefits forum organised by Mahsa University yesterday.
Other speakers were the university’s Psychiatry Department head Prof Dr Hussain Habil, Universiti Sains Malaysia’s pharmaceutical science lecturer Prof Aishah Abdul Latiff and Universiti Malaya’s Centre for Addiction Science Studies CEO Dr Mohd Khafidz Mohd Ishak.
Zaki said there are cases where epilepsy patients treated with CBD have shown good results.
Please, when your child or relative is suffering, then you know how it feels. So we are here to appeal (to the government).”
More than 40 countries have so far approved the cultivation, use and sale of hemp (industrial marijuana) or medical marijuana, including Australia, the United States, Canada, Argentina and Denmark.
On December 26, 2018, Thailand passed an amendment to its narcotics law that decriminalised the use of cannabis and ketum products for medical purposes.
However, in Malaysia, the possession of a minimum of 200g of cannabis can result in the death penalty. – The Vibes, June 25, 2022
