Barbaric Malaysian Courts still hang people for cannabis

Sirs,

I was shocked to learn just how far behind the rest f the world the courts in Malaysia are ("Trader gets gallows for drug offence")

So Fadil Bachok, 46, is to be hanged by the neck until dead - for what?  Possession of less than one kilo of plant material (cannabis) - less than held by most Dutch Coffeeshop or US Medicinal Cannabis Clinics.

What harm did this man actually do and what harm could he feasibly do, with cannabis.

Cannabis itself has been shown by evidence to be non-toxic (it is impossible to consume the fatal dose), non-addictive and contains nothing that drives people to hard drugs.

 In fact it is one of the most versatile efficacious plants in the world and its seeds are amongst the most complete food.  The plant can be used to make everything from a valuable medicine to fuel to drive our cars, even our planes:  ropes, clothes, paper, plastics, building materials, oils, biofuels and medicine - what other plant can produce that.

Yet most of the world still bans it giving preferential treatment to huge multi-national and pharmaceutical companies that sell often dangerous and synthetic alternatives that harm the environment, at huge cost to the everyday person and society as a whole.  That ban leaves us all under their thumb.

But whatever the real reason for the ban - it is simply barbaric.

Alun Buffry