Cannabis oil seller escapes gallows for drug trafficking

A man who sold cannabis oil for medicinal purposes escaped the gallows after the Federal Court here today allowed his appeal to set aside his conviction for two counts of drug trafficking.

A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, however, substituted Muhammad Lukman Mohamad's charges to possession under Section 9 of the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA).

The court found Muhammad Lukman, 31, guilty for drug possession and sentenced him to five-year jail for each charge which to run concurrently from Dec 7, 2015, the date of his arrest.

Justice Tengku Maimun who presided with Federal Court judges Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal heard Muhammad Lukman's appeal in respect of his conviction and death sentence for the first and second charges.

Section 9 of the DDA provides a penalty of a maximum of five years jail and/or fine or both upon conviction.

In August 2018, the Shah Alam High Court found Muhammad Lukman guilty on three charges of trafficking 3,010mm of delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (cannabis extract), 1,422g of delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol and 279.81g of cannabis.

The offences were committed at a house in Bandar Mahkota, Banting, Kuala Langat, Selangor on Dec 7, 2015.

The Court of Appeal last year upheld the death sentence on the first two charges but reduced the third charge to possession and sentenced Muhammad Lukman to seven years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane.

Counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said his client (Muhammad Lukman) will be freed once the caning is administered to him. He said Muhammad Lukman has completed his jail term with a one-third remission.

Hisyam earlier submitted that the two charges faced by Muhammad Lukman cannot stand because the prosecution could not prove the weight and volume of the drugs as stated in the charges as the chemist did not carry out a quantitative analysis of the drugs.

Hisyam also argued that the admission of the exhibits was wrong in law because they were tendered in absence of the trial judge.

He said the conduct of Muhammad Lukman in selling the cannabis oil was not caught within the ambit of the DDA as he was selling it as medicinal oil.

Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Samihah Razali submitted that the chemist did not carry out the quantitative analysis as he said it was unnecessary to do so.

- Bernama