A PETITION to free a 29-year-old man sentenced to death for selling medicinal cannabis oil has gone viral on social media and garnered almost 37,000 signatures.

Started by an individual named Hisanuddin Zainuddin, the petition urges the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Health Ministry and the Malaysian Bar to free Muhammad Lukman Mohamad.

The Shah Alam High Court sentenced Lukman to the death penalty on August 30 for possessing three litres of cannabis oil and 279g of compressed cannabis.

His lawyer Farhan Maaruf, who is appealing the sentence, argued that Lukman was not part of a drug syndicate but an alternative health practitioner who used cannabis oil for medicinal reason.

Lukman is said to have treated nearly 800 patients, including giving free cannabis oil to low-income patients.

He was arrested in 2015 with his then pregnant wife. The child is now three years old.

There are at least two types of oil that can be derived from cannabis plants. 

Marijuana is the breed that contains a higher level of the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol that makes users “high”.

Hemp, a cannabis bred with a very low level of tetrahydrocannabinol, is used to make cannabidiol oil that is legally sold for medicinal purposes in countries like the UK.

It is unknown how much tetrahydrocannabinol the cannabis oil Lukman was distributing contained.

Amiruddin@Nadarajan Abdullah, popularly known as Dr Ganja, is another alternative health practitioner facing charges for using marijuana to treat patients.

A petition calling for his release has received almost 9,000 signatures so far. –  September 15, 2018.

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