The Shah Alam High Court sentenced Muhammad Lukman Mohamad, a 29-year-old father of one, to death by hanging on 30 August 2018 after convicting him of possessing, processing and distributing cannabis oil.[1][2] Three litres of cannabis oil and 279 grams of compressed cannabis were found in his home, and the charges fell under section 39B of Malaysia’s Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries a mandatory death sentence for trafficking.[1][3]

Lukman did not profit from the oil and gave it free to patients who could not afford it, after calling patients he had helped as defence witnesses to show he made it for their wellbeing.[1] The prosecution argued that the lack of financial gain did not matter, because the drug he made is not recognised for medical use by the health ministry or any accredited Malaysian physician.[1]

Sentence revised on appeal

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said in September 2018 that the case needed review, calling the death sentence a miscarriage of justice.[2] The Court of Appeal upheld death on two trafficking charges but cut the third to possession, and on 17 February 2021 the Federal Court set the trafficking convictions aside after finding the prosecution had failed to prove the weight of the drugs.[4] Lukman was instead jailed five years on each possession count, to run concurrently, for offences committed at his house in Bandar Mahkota, Banting on 7 December 2015.[4]