GET TOUGH ON PENALTIES - EX-MP

A FORMER politician in Goroka has urged the Government to get tough on
the penalties for marijuana-related offences, saying that the drug was
the cause of many other crimes.

Francis Harokave said marijuana had become a serious problem among
youths nationwide.

He said rapes, armed robberies, arms trafficking, assaults and many
other types of crime were often committed by people under the
influence of marijuana.

"The authorities must amend the laws as the present prison sentences
of between three months and nine are not tough enough," he told The
National.

He said the Government should consider capital punishment as practised
by countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

"The Government must act before the problem really gets out of hand,"
he said.