Reefer Madness?
May 27, 2005
Memo to file: Under no circumstances shall you ever smuggle marijuana into Indonesia. It could get you killed.
Not by rival drug smugglers, mind you. No. It could yield the death penalty.
Twenty-seven year old Schappel Corby of Australia was spared death by an Indonesian court in an act of apparent leniency. The prosecution sought life behind bars; she was sentenced to 20 years. All this for nine pounds of marijuana. In New York City that amount might make the radar requiring incarceration.
I have long believed the sentences for narcotics offenses in the United States to be obscene. I still do. I simply believe things are even worse in Indonesia.