If we have time, the hearing meeting (will be organised) this week, but otherwise, we will organise (the meeting) before recessJakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR RI) Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad pushed for deliberation of medicinal use of cannabis amid ongoing revision of Law No. 35 of 2009 on Narcotics under DPR RI's Commission III.
"We will take necessary measures to push for a hearing meeting (on medical cannabis) with DPR RI Commission III currently in the process to revise the narcotics law," Ahmad stated at the Parliament Complex here on Tuesday.
The deputy speaker's remarks were made after receiving Santi Warastuti, the mother of a child suffering from cerebral palsy, who advocates for medical cannabis for her child.
Warastuti stated that she needs medical cannabis to remedy her child's convulsions.
He affirmed that the hearing meeting would take place by the earliest this week or by the latest before the parliament's recess period next week.
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"If we have time, the hearing meeting (will be organised) this week, but otherwise, we will organise (the meeting) before recess," he remarked.
The Health Ministry probably will be invited to participate in the hearing meeting, the deputy speaker noted, adding that Commission III will coordinate the matter with relevant authorities.
He stated that despite the ongoing debate on the use of cannabis for medical purposes, the parliament would take into account all public aspirations regarding the issue.
"It is a public aspiration, and we will accommodate those who advocate and oppose," Ahmad remarked.
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The deputy speaker also drew attention to a comprehensive study to respond to the public's proposal for the use of cannabis as medicine in Indonesia.
He realised that the public has high aspirations for the use of cannabis for medical purposes, particularly by referring to global developments in the use of cannabis as medicine.
However, he noted that the Indonesian law has not allowed the use of cannabis for medical purposes.
In the Southeast Asian region, only Laos and Thailand have joined 30 countries in the world in legalising the use of cannabis as medicine.
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Translator: Imam Budilaksono, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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