PORT DICKSON: The cabinet has agreed to impose a moratorium on a death penalty that was sentenced to a man for possessing and distributing medical marijuana.
Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said the decision was agreed upon in a recent cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Kuala Lumpur.
He added that the cabinet had also agreed that those caught using cannabis oil should not be put to the gallows.
“I brought this issue up in the cabinet and had a discussion with Mahathir … as a consensus, we agreed that it (death sentence) should not have happened, and to put a moratorium on his death penalty.
“At the same time, usage of medical marijuana should also never be punished by a death penalty,” he told reporters after visiting PH youth machinery for the Port Dickson by-election campaign, here, today.
Asked whether the government was looking into legalising the use of cannabis oil, he said: “Wait, one by one.”
Syed Saddiq was asked to comment on the death sentenced that was handed by the Shah Alam High Court on Aug 30 on 29-year-old Muhammad Lukman.
The father of one was arrested in December 2015 for possessing 3.1 litres of cannabis oil, 279 grams of compressed cannabis and 1.4kg of substance containing tetrahydrocan nabinol (THC).
He was arrested by the police together with his five-month pregnant wife, who was freed later, during a raid at his home.
Mahathir had, on Sept 18, also said the charge against Lukman should be reviewed.
Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar had also previously said she would be writing an appeal to Attorney General Tommy Thomas seeking a pardon for Lukman.
