Saturday, June 02, 2007

Legal Weed a Possibility

JAKARTA: The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and the Indonesian National Institute for Drug Abuse (INIDA) are considering the legalization of marijuana to make use of its benefits.

"All this time, we only emphasize the bad effects of marijuana. But people in Aceh are using marijuana in their food recipes," Tomi Harjatno, an drugs expert at BNN, was quoted as saying by detik.com news portal on Thursday.

"Some countries, such as the Netherlands, have also legalized marijuana to be smoked in cafes and coffee shops."

Tomi, also research and development director at INIDA, said the effects of marijuana were not as bad as perceived by the public.

"The leaves can have an hallucinogenic effect but they do not cause big negative effects," he told a seminar.

Tomi said BNN and INIDA would recommended that the government reformulate the policy on marijuana.

"We could recommend the legal use of marijuana in certain places," said Tommy. --JP

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