Apply punishment fairly!

The biggest and most dangerous drug problem in Indonesia is that of the killer drug, nicotine. Smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, strokes, premature death, impotence, asthma and lung diseases, gangrene, stunts growth and harms unborn babies, among other effects. Heroin is definitely a killer drug, but it is not in epidemic proportions as is smoking.

Marijuana is an abused drug here in Indonesia and the laws of this country carry stiff penalties for importation. It has harmful effects on the body causing lung cancer and diseases, but so too does nicotine found in cigarettes. Marijuana also has harmful effects on the brain and on motivation. It is not a killer drug like heroin. It does not kill as many people as smoking cigarettes does.

I agree that people who smuggle drugs into Indonesia should be punished, but I also believe that the people should be protected against tobacco, which is Indonesia's most widely abused drug.

I am bewildered by sentences of death or 20 years for smuggling marijuana, but only a few years for the main perpetrator of the Timor Leste massacre, a few years for some rapists and not much time for embezzlers.

On another note, I'm most ashamed and horrified by the terrorist actions toward Indonesians at the embassy in Australia. It is this perpetrator who deserves 20 years' imprisonment.

MARK OGILVIE, Jakarta