In a Country Where Selling Drugs Means Death... Is Hemp Coffee Legal?

Uncontrollable Marijuana Cultivation

Legalization Bill Proposed in Aceh Province, Indonesia

Coffee Export Bill Also Prepared

[Asia Economy Jakarta, Guest Reporter Choi Sujin] The possibility of legalizing Indonesian marijuana coffee has increased. A bill has been proposed in Aceh Province, Indonesia, to legalize marijuana produced in Banda Aceh, Sumatra Island, and to permit coffee containing marijuana components as an export item. Marijuana coffee is made by roasting marijuana, classified as a narcotic, together with Aceh coffee beans in a 3 to 7 ratio. Aceh marijuana coffee is strictly restricted for overseas sales due to its narcotic content, and its price is as high as about $75 per kilogram.

According to local Indonesian media on the 10th (local time), Aceh Province has prepared a bill for the legalization of marijuana along with the overseas export of this coffee.

The legalization of marijuana in Aceh Province is being promoted mainly by members of the PKS National Prosperity Party, a Muslim political party. Banda Aceh is the only region in Indonesia, an Islamic country, where Sharia law is applied, and severe public whipping punishments are imposed even for alcohol consumption and light physical contact between men and women. Narcotics such as marijuana are even more strictly prohibited. Indonesia is one of the few countries that punish drug trafficking with the highest level of penalty, the death penalty. Nevertheless, the reason this region is pushing for marijuana legalization is that marijuana cultivation in the Aceh area has expanded to an uncontrollable level. Accordingly, the local government perceives that control itself is unrealistic.

In Indonesia, marijuana cultivation has been prohibited by law since 1970, and major Muslim organizations have agreed to punish drug trafficking with the death penalty. The Indonesian police seized about 100 tons of marijuana from cultivation farms last year alone.

However, such punishments are out of touch with the reality of this region. The marijuana cultivation area farmed by Aceh residents already exceeds about seven times the land area of Singapore. It has even become customary to plant and sell marijuana in pots or backyards. There is talk that even if all farms are burned down, marijuana will be growing somewhere again. This is the background for Aceh Province to face reality and publicly propose marijuana legalization, which has long been discussed underground. There is concern that if marijuana is legalized, it could be used not only in coffee but also in candies mixed with rice flour, palm sugar, and coconut milk. A farmer producing marijuana coffee in this area said, "How can something that can be seen everywhere in the Aceh region be prohibited?"

Countries that have legalized marijuana cultivation as a recreational or medicinal product include Canada, South Africa, and Uruguay, and in the United States, 11 states including Washington DC, California, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Colorado have legalized marijuana.