(Toke of the Town) A 25-year-old man wept openly in Malaysian High Court court this morning when the judge sentenced him to death for marijuana.

Shahrul Izani Suparman was convicted of possessing 622 grams of cannabis with intent to deliver, reports Azreen Hani of The Malay Mail. Shahrul was 19 years old when he was arrested on Sept. 25, 2003.

According to police, Shahrul tried to get away from them on foot when he was ordered to stop while riding his motorcycle in Klang, Malaysia. Authorities said Shahrul had made a U-turn, and was riding without his lights on.

The marijuana, packed in two separate newspaper wrappings, was found in the motorcycle’s basket. Shahrul was charged under Malaysia’s Dangerous Drugs Act of 1952, which upon conviction carries a death sentence by hanging.

Malaysia, along with Vietnam, Indonesia, China and several other Asian countries, has some of the harshest drug laws on Earth. Mere possession of more than 200 grams carries a mandatory death penalty by hanging in Malaysia.

I’m just reeling over this one, considering that in my state with my Oregon caregiver card, I can be in possession of 24 ounces of marijuana and police will let me be.

People like Georgia Rep. Tommy “Caning for Potheads” Benton salivate over the idea of instituting a death penalty for drug crimes, frustrated that our pesky Constitution and enlightened population won’t tolerate that sort of barbarity.  They seem to think that such extreme punishment will finally give them the “Drug-Free America*” they’ve always dreamed of.

I’d like to point out that the fact the court had to sentence this young man to death proves that the extreme punishment doesn’t work.  Even with that possible outcome, wasn’t there 21 ounces of pot being trafficked through Malaysia?  The young man testified that he had already made a couple of other deliveries for a friend but had no idea what he was transporting.  Whether he did or not, assuming the deliveries were more ounces of pot, doesn’t that show that Malaysians are finding a way to get high?

All these countries have done is provided insurgents, rebels, and terrorists a very lucrative black market trade to raise liquid cash to fund their activities, made more lucrative the more stringent the punishment.  The beneficiaries of this largess are rarely brought to trial; rather, it’s the Shahruls of the world, the low-level mules and dealers, that pay for the profits.