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By JAMES APA GUMUNO
ANYONE who commits a crime while under the influence of marijuana or
homebrew should be jailed for at least 10 years, a senior police office
said.
Both were the major causes of domestic violence in families and
communities, acting Western Highlands police commander Chief Insp Ambane
Kaiglo said.
The Government should amend the laws as soon as possible as they were
too lenient, he said.
“We must get tough to stop all forms of crime in the country,” he told
The National yesterday.
He said that at the moment, such offenders were jailed only for between
three and 12 months.
“This is not enough to fight the widespread consumption of homebrew and
marijuana, and violence,” he said.
Mr Kaiglo said many reports on domestic violence that the police
received everyday resulted from marijuana and homebrew.
He said both were becoming a major problem and the law must be tightened
up to minimise related problems.
He said the laws were allowing offenders to get away almost unpunished.
Mr Kaiglo made the comments following an incident recently where a man
beat up his wife for several days and then tore their unborn child out
of her womb at Kami in the Kudjip area.
The man, who has fled, was believed to be a drug addict.
Mr Kaiglo said that police hoped to arrest the man soon with the help of
the community.
The woman is recovering at the Kudjip hospital.
The chairman of the Constitutional Reform and Development Committee and
Member for Kundiawa-Gembogl Open Joe Mek Teine agreed that marijuana and
homebrew were behind many law and order problems in the Highlands and
some parts of the coastal provinces.
He said that women were often at the receiving end.
He said his committee would look at the existing laws on the marijuana
and homebrew to see if there was a need for a review.
“Before we do so, we will get the views of the people,” he added.
 
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