CANNABIS DEBATE ANGERS SOME INDONESIANS

Will Indonesia Legalise Cannabis?

A study by Indonesia's National Narcotics Agency has sparked a
squabble in the world's largest Muslim nation, after it suggested the
drug might be useful in the alternative fuel or agriculture
industries, and the government should consider legalising its use.

Indonesia's vice president Jusuf Kalla has also suggested it is
acceptable to use cannabis for cooking.

"To add up in a curry or soup recipes, that's common," Kalla said last week.

"Not to get high, but merely for food seasonings.

"It's alright to use it as a food seasoning, but it should not be
fully legalised."

But the issue has drawn a strong response from the militant Islamic
group Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

On Friday, dozens of FPI members threatened to burn down the National
Narcotics Agency if it took the idea any further.

"If it is legalised, we will wage war with the National Narcotics
Agency and we will burn this building," Eka Jaya told FPI supporters,
who had gathered chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) outside the
Jakarta office.

It also volunteered to help authorities catch drug offenders.

"If the agency is incapable of obliterating the drugs syndicates,
allow FPI (to help), by giving us access to weapons and permission to
investigate and catch (them)," Jaya said.

A legal expert from the National Narcotics Agency has played down the
suggestion cannabis could be legalised.

"(The legalisation) will not happen," Brigadier General Jeanne Mandagi said.

"(The ban) will stay for a long time."

Mandagi said most Indonesians were against drugs, and wanted cannabis
to remain a banned substance.

"No one wants to legalise it, and the debate was generated because of
misunderstanding," she said.

Indonesia was not ready, Mandagi said, adding European countries that
had allowed public use of cannabis had revoked the policy because of
its negative impact.

Aceh, the only province in Indonesia that enforces strict Islamic
Sharia law, is the country's biggest source of the drug.

Acehnese traditionally use cannabis leaves and seeds in cooking,
although the drug is often distributed illegally to Indonesia's other
provinces.

Prior to Indonesia's tough drug laws, many Acehnese used to grow the
plant in their front yards - a crime that could now hand them a
10-year prison term.

Despite the risks since the laws were passed, cannabis is still sold
illegally in Aceh by the kilogram.

The National Narcotics Agency said more than 3.2 million people in
Indonesia were drug users, and 70 per cent of those were also addicts.

In 2005, Australian Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years
imprisonment in Bali for importing 4.2kg of cannabis in her boogie board bag.