MK Rejects Marijuana Even For Medical Purposes, House of Representatives Commission IX Asks All Parties To Respect The Decision

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JAKARTA - Member of House of Representatives (DPR) Commission IX, Rahmad Handoyo, assessed that all parties must respect the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) which rejected the judicial review of Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics related to the use of medical marijuana for health.

Moreover, according to him, Indonesia is a constitutional state that obeys the law and the constitution.

"When the Constitutional Court has decided to reject it in its entirety, of course, we must respect it together. It was already a decision. This means that marijuana is not permitted, including for medical purposes", Rahmad told reporters, Thursday, July 21.

The PDIP politician said the Constitutional Court's decision confirmed that the Narcotics Law prohibits the use of marijuana. Even for the sake of health.

"Marijuana is not permitted at all, based on the people's mandate, the narcotics law is indeed not permitted", said Rahmad.

However, Rahmad assessed, that the use of marijuana can still be used for closed research. "But it is still possible for a research or scientific interest, its use must be closed", he added.

Therefore, Rahmad welcomes the issue of using medical marijuana to continue to be discussed by the public. Of course with expert input and information.

“Please, scientifically, please just have a discussion inviting experts to invite other health experts. However, keep in mind that the use of medical marijuana is not permitted at this time. Once again we have to respect it together", said Rahmad.

Previously, the Constitutional Court (MK) ruled that medical marijuana should not be used for health reasons. This was stated by the Constitutional Court in case decision number 106/PUU-XVIII/2020.

The Constitutional Court rejected the formal review of the Narcotics Law regarding articles prohibiting the use of class I narcotics. Thus, the provisions of Article 6 paragraph (1) and Article 8 paragraph (1) of the Narcotics Law have not changed. Narcotics class-including medical marijuana-is not allowed to be consumed even for medical reasons.

"Based on an assessment of the facts and the law, the trial court, one, stated that the applications of Petitioners V and VI were unacceptable. Two, rejected the applications of the applicants in their entirety", said Chief Justice Anwar Usman at a virtual hearing, Wednesday, July 20.