THE effectiveness of the government's health slogan "Jauhilah Dadah. Dadah Musuh Negara." on the Malaysian psyche, coupled with our tough laws on anyone caught in possession of drugs, has meant that the Malaysian mindset travels on only one track when it comes to drugs — that it is illegal and should never be condoned. And for the most part, this is a good thing.
Drug addiction is a scourge upon any community and should never be encouraged. However, the use of prescribed drugs is another matter. And this is something that society should understand: what many consider to be "medicine" and acceptable are only so because they are medically prescribed.
For instance, in the United States, it is illegal to save someone by lending them your asthma inhaler because that is a prescription drug. Likewise, the very strong opioid morphine can be prescribed as a painkiller to patients in extreme pain or those who are at the end stage of cancer.
Since 2005, another opioid, methadone, is given to drug addicts who want to quit drugs, as part of Malaysia's Drug Substitution Therapy programme.
Methadone is a drug — a dadah — but when prescribed by doctors and given under medical supervision, its limited use is legal.
It is from this perspective that former chief justice Tun Zaki Azmi is trying to get the government to allow the use of medical cannabis. Speaking at a forum this week titled "Medical Cannabis: Facts & Benefits", Zaki pleaded on behalf of patients who needed cannabidiol (CBD) to alleviate their pain or illness. CBD is used to reduce seizures in people with epilepsy, reduce nausea for people undergoing chemotherapy and reduce chronic pain and muscle spasms. Research into the full effects of CBD is still slim.
Even so, to a patient who suffers greatly without it, some risk is better than no advantage. According to Zaki, the government does not even have to go through the arduous route of legislating new laws, since the Dangerous Drugs Act authorises the health minister to grant exemptions for the import and prescription of any drug.
Therefore, an exemption could be made for the restricted use of medical cannabis. It's just a matter of whether the government wants to permit it or not. Zaki argues that if morphine, which is a much stronger drug, can be prescribed to patients, then, why not cannabidiol?
The issue is not about decriminalising cannabis or condoning illegal drug use. Rather, it is about legally extending help to sick people. For this is not merely an academic discussion. There are real and existing patients in our country who need CBD.
If exemptions are not given for the sick, they will either have to continue to suffer or they and the ones who love them will have to break the law in order to relieve their pain. And since it is illegal to import CBD, this includes the people who grow cannabis in order to make cannabidiol to give to their loved ones or anyone who needs it.
Yes, what they are doing is illegal. But given the circumstances, isn't it immoral to criminalise people who are just trying to get treatment? There will always be drug users.
But denying sick people access to medical cannabis just because of the drug users is not the way to fight dadah.