Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is in the process of reviewing the former Pakatan Harapan government’s decision on alternative treatments using ketum and medical marijuana.
This comes after the official meeting between the bi-partisan Medical Cannabis Caucus with the prime minister last week, said one of the caucus members, Harapan’s Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad.
“The current government’s first step is that they want to review all the decisions made by the previous cabinet.
“They (the government) also want to identify the land that will be used to plant the crop and so on, which had been identified previously. So they want to check again everything we talked about from the notes and minutes of the (Harapan) cabinet meetings.
“After that, if that is already done, they will try to get a decision and agreement from the current cabinet to continue what Harapan had worked on.
“He (the prime minister) asked for more exposure on this matter to the public so that they are not shocked by the trend or the suggestions and approach we have proposed,” he said to Malaysiakini.
Khalid said this while elaborating on the latest updates after the caucus’ meeting with Ismail Sabri at the Prime Minister’s Office on April 12.
According to the caucus, the prime minister had responded positively in the meeting and gave his promise to discuss and fine-tune the relevant issues more thoroughly in the cabinet meeting.
The caucus said they had also discussed with Ismail Sabri policy issues related to the hemp, ketum and medical marijuana industry for use in Malaysia.
They had also raised issues related to Malaysians charged and convicted by the courts for using marijuana for medical purposes.
The caucus consists of Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muda-Muar), Azalina Othman Said (BN-Pengerang), Xavier Jayakumar (Independent-Kuala Langat), Ignatius Darell Leiking (Warisan-Penampang), Kelvin Yii (Harapan-Bandar Kuching), Azman Ismail (Harapan-Kuala Kedah) and Khalid himself.
New source of income
Elaborating further, Khalid said the caucus members were optimistic about the meeting with the prime minister.
He added that medical marijuana and ketum can become a new source of income specifically for those living in rural areas.
“Like in Kedah, if they allow the sale of ketum trees to licenced buyers, then it could bring many families out of poverty. This thing already exists but people can’t do it because it goes against the law.
“So if we decide that the sale can only be done to certain people, certain companies or licenced bodies and so on, then it could become a new source of income.
“Of course, the prime minister is happy hearing such things because it can resolve the issues of the rural community, specifically those in the North,” he said.
Khalid said they will also provide relevant updates as well as propose to bring a debate on the matter to the Dewan Rakyat.
“We hope within this year there will be decisions made in the direction of allowing this to be implemented,” he added.
Khalid also pointed out that there are Malayan ketum being marketed in Europe but they cannot be sold in its own country.
“We can’t sell it in its own country because we are not allowed whereas other countries, specifically Thailand, are taking our ketum and selling it.
“So we are losing out in terms of revenue. All this we discussed and we asked for it to be looked at from a legal perspective, as well as for policies that would allow for its planting and controlled industry,” he said. - Mkini
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