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Letter: Letter: Legalization of marijuana

Lynna van der Zee-Oehmke

Jakarta Post

Monday 23 May 2011

It is true that marijuana does not appear on the police blacklist in the Netherlands.

Alcohol, meanwhile, is on the blacklist there, because drunk drivers cause many deadly traffic accidents and Dutch traffic police conduct regular checks testing motorists for alcohol abuse.

Getting caught in Holland by the traffic police is no laughing matter, with fines of more than ¤300. If you are caught twice being drunk behind the wheel, it results in incredibly high fines and confiscation of one’s driver’s license.

Marijuana, on the other hand, is not considered dangerous and therefore does not appear on the blacklist. Getting caught with marijuana in Indonesia by the police is no laughing matter. Caught marijuana users or traffickers end up in jail and police and prosecutors make millions in bribes paid to get victims out of police custody.

I find this ridiculous, since fashion drugs like ecstasy and hard drugs like crack, cocaine and heroin are more hazardous to one’s health than marijuana. If cannabis sativa were legalized in Indonesia, authorities, i.e. police and prosecutors, would lose hundreds of millions of rupiah in side income. It is understandable that they are extremely reluctant to do so.

I have lived in Banda Aceh with my husband who has worked there for five years. The farmers markets sell cannabis sativa openly under another name, and many kitchens in Aceh use it for cooking, especially for their curries such as rendang and gulai kambing. Kopi Aceh or Aceh coffee is favored by Aceh coffee drinkers, including expats, as they roast cannabis sativa seeds and coffee beans together and this special blend of coffee apparently tastes quite nice.

The sooner the government legalizes marijuana the better for everybody.

Lynna van der Zee-Oehmke
Bogor, West Java

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/05/23/letter-legalization-marijuana.html

 

 

 

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