DPR Aceh Proposes Qanun To Legalize Medical Marijuana To Enter Prolegda 2023

Illustration - Destruction of cannabis fields (ANTARA PHOTO/Ampelsa)

BANDA ACEH - Commission V of the Aceh House of Representatives (DPRA) proposed a draft qanun (regional regulation) on the legalization of medical marijuana to be included in the priority 2023 Regional Legislation Program (Prolegda).

"We have proposed (the draft medical qanun) to the Legislative Body (Baleg) of the Aceh DPR to be a priority scale in determining the 2023 Prolegda later," said Chairman of Commission V DPRA M. Rizal Falevi Kirani in Banda Aceh as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, October 5.

Falevi said the proposal was aimed at making the draft qanun really become a priority program, so it was proposed as an initiative of Commission V DPRA.

"We have submitted the title. I have signed the letter and have had a meeting with Baleg," he added.

Apart from the shortcomings of these plants, he continued, the regulation of the use of marijuana in the field is only for medical needs and not for other consumption.

Therefore, according to him, the state must be present to regulate the issue. Moreover, he added, the regulation of marijuana for medical purposes is also regulated in other countries, such as Canada, Thailand, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States.

"While we know that based on the results of the cannabis saga book written by Professor Musri (a cannabis researcher from Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh), there are many ingredients that can treat 60 types of diseases," said Falevi.

He hopes that members of the House of Representatives will also participate in guarding and opening up research spaces related to the proposed law to be more elastic.

Falevi said that currently the world is growing, so it is time for Indonesia to move forward by conducting elaboration and new research on these problems.

"If other countries have gone far to do research on medical marijuana, why don't we try? This is where the state must be present to regulate in detail the legalization of medical marijuana," he said.

He said the Ministry of Health had also issued Regulation No. 16 of 2022 concerning Procedures for the Implementation of the Production and/or Use of Narcotics for the Interests of the Development of Science and Technology.

This regulation is the basis for a more comprehensive study of the plan to legalize marijuana for health purposes in Aceh.

"We are still guided by Permenkes Number 16 of 2022, while waiting for the revision of the Narcotics Law, which is being prepared by friends of the DPR RI," said Falevi Kirani.