Drug Free Youth Malaysia President Khairuddin Aziz used to smoke weed and marijuana daily and believ

Malaysians Share Their Views And Concerns About Legalizing Marijuana

Drug Free Youth Malaysia President Khairuddin Aziz used to smoke weed and marijuana daily and believes that there are medical uses for it, but for leisure it does nothing for the user, but the biggest drawback to legalizing marijuana are the big corporations who will exploit it for profit.

“I used to smoke it everyday and it could become addictive. When the marijuana is not strong anymore you want to go and get a stronger one, to get that kick,” he told Malaysian Digest.

“And that’s when people turn and add cocaine and heroine to the marijuana, and added chemicals to the marijuana to make it harder and stronger so it is no longer natural marijuana anymore.

“Marijuana is ok for medical uses but you need to get the license, because the people who push for it are not the ones who care about the health benefits, but because they want to smoke it.

A long held argument for decriminalisation and legalisation was the removal of the black market trade in illicit substances as referred to in the Portugal study.

Logically speaking, decriminalising users diffuses the returns for the other categories but Khairuddin fears that it will be hijacked for profit just like other prescription medicines in the market today.

“The pharmacies will make it expensive, and I’m sure a lot of pro-marijuana lobbyists are waiting to get the business opportunities, just like the big pharmaceutical companies control all the major medicines, they will monopolize marijuana as well.

“They don’t care for the people’s well beings, it's about money. It will benefit them more. They will push for the drugs to the patients even when they don’t need it - it's not really about curing cancer.”

Mie (not her real name) says that marijuana is better than cigarettes, as it has lesser health risks and the chances of getting addicted to ‘weed’ are small.

“I’ve been smoking marijuana and weed for years now, once in awhile. Everyone in my circle of friends smokes and eats marijuana. It's not a drug, it's just a herb and its health effects are not as bad as cigarettes as well as it does not contain a pulling effect’.

“Everything in moderation, as they say.. You can control your marijuana intake but of course if you take it excessively you will become a drug addict. But I still don’t think it should be legalized though, because there’s other ways to relax too,” she reasoned.

Bella, who owns her own dance studio says that she marijuana is good for her, because of her health, and how it helps her focus and when she is feeling down.

“Definitely it helps a lot especially with my personality because I am very hyper and restless, and it helps me calm down and it helps me focus at the same time. So instead of taking pills, it helps me focus at one task that I am doing’ she spoke to Malaysian Digest.

“It's also clean, unless you take it too much. I don’t take it everyday, usually with friends, as a social smoker. And even when I take it I am surrounded by friends and when I take it alone, when during my university, I could finish my exam well. Like I could finish 5 essays in one go.

“Legalized or not, people will still be doing it right? So if you make it legal at least it won’t be causing crime whilst doing it - and that’s the only difference. And if you don’t like marijuana and all that, well don’t do it, that’s your opinion.”

Alex Stevens, a criminal justice professor was quoted in response to the Portugal case study that decriminalizing marijuana does not cause anarchy to break out and turn most of its citizens into slaves of drug addiction.

"The main lesson to learn is that decriminalizing drugs doesn't necessarily lead to disaster, and it does free up resources for more effective responses to drug-related problems," he concluded.

And perhaps, for Malaysia too, it might be have to stay ‘illegal’ for the near future as authorities try to stamp out the drug menace with tougher enforcement based on the official view to treat the problem as a moral one rather than a health issue.