BNN Rejects Marijuana Legalization Yet Opens to Regulation

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) firmly rejects the legalization of marijuana because the type-1 narcotic is not allowed to be used for medicinal purposes as regulated by Law No. 35 of 2009 on Narcotics.

“We are a state of law, meaning that we enforce positive laws. If Law No. 35 of 2009 states that the type-1 narcotic is not allowed for medicinal purposes which included marijuana, then it is impossible to legalize it,” said BNN Legal Director Susanto in a focus group discussion or FGD held in Jakarta, Tuesday, July 5, 2022.

However, Susanto asserted that regulating marijuana or cannabis is possible to be conducted, instead of legalizing it.

In the FGD on the second amendment to Law No. 35 of 2009, the Dean of the Law Faculty at Atma Jaya Catholic University Asmin Fransiska asked all parties to be careful in using the word legalization, considering that in general, there are stages of narcotics policy.

The first stage is the criminalization that is currently happening in Indonesia. The second stage is decriminalization which issues sanctions for narcotics users either for their own benefit or for others in a certain capacity. 

The next stage is regulation. Many countries conducted control over the overuse of marijuana.

“Discussion regarding this regulation seems to be missing. We are always polarized into two groups, namely criminalizing marijuana and legalizing marijuana. We forget that there is another stage, which is decriminalizing narcotics users. And we will test the abilities of the government and the state in carrying out the regulations,” said Asmin.

ANTARA

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