Man Faces 15 Years in Bali Prison for 3 Grams of Cannabis Oil
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]P[/dropcap]ip Holmes, 45, faces up to 15 years in prison after being caught with a tiny amount of cannabis oil in Bali, Indonesia. Holmes is a British citizen and was arrested on Dec. 3 for alleged “drug smuggling.”
Holmes and four other people were arrested for drug smuggling last week in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. In a surreal national news conference, the five arrested people were displayed in a row with ski masks covering their faces. Holmes had the THC-infused oil sent to himself in Bali. He used the oil medicinally to treat himself for arthritis symptoms. The bottle and oil together weighed 31 grams, so it contained an estimated three grams of cannabis oil. The reality of the situation is dire. He could spend 15 years in Kerobokan, which he called “one of the toughest prisons on earth.”
A website was set up to raise $100,000 to cover the cost of his legal representation. “I am guilty under Indonesian law of possession of narcotics, there’s no denying that,” Holmes wrote on the website. “Even though medicinal THC is something so widely accepted elsewhere and it was such a small amount, I foolishly crossed the line in a very strict country. The only way now to ensure my sentence is something I will survive is to invest in the right legal representation and rehabilitation.”
Indonesia ranks among the countries with the harshest drug laws in the world. Indonesia, like countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, has little patience with drug offenders and frequently uses capital or corporal punishment. Technically, it could be worse. British citizens Gareth Cashmore and Lindsay Sandiford, are on death row in Indonesia on drug charges. Meanwhile, an Australian man faces the death penalty in Bali for possession of 13 grams of bagged-up cocaine.
Holmes’ ex-wife and two children live in the United Kingdom, which announced last October that medical cannabis products would be available for prescription.Fortunately for Holmes, there is a legal team in Bali that could get the sentence reduced to time in rehab instead of getting sentenced to hard time in Kerobokan.
