Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The Nusantara Marijuana Network (LGN) staged a march Saturday to campaign for the legalization of marijuana.

"As a first step, we call on the government to provide objective information about marijuana," LGN chair Dhira Narayana said at the march at the Tugu Tani monument in Central Jakarta.

"People need to be informed that marijuana can be used to cure cancer. Marijuana is also no more addictive than coffee or tea," he claimed. Medical marijuana has been clinically tested to alleviate the suffering of cancer patients, not cure them.

March organizers originally planned to go from Tugu Tani to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, however, police blocked marchers from gathering at the traffic circle because of the ongoing ASEAN summit, which began Saturday morning.

The march brought together 50 LGN members, most dressed in white T-shirts and wearing green ribbons on their chests. The march was led by a pick-up truck covered with posters of Bob Marley. "Not all of [the participants to the march] are active marijuana users," Dhira said.

One self-proclaimed non-user, Soraya Cassandra from the LGN's education team, said the public needed to know that marijuana and hemp could be used in numerous industries.

"There is a lot of biased information about marijuana and this is the reason why much of the public does not understand the substance," she said. "The Cannabis plant can be used to produce paper. This will save a lot of trees because the Cannabis plant can be harvested three times a year," she added. Soraya said marijuana was also used by AIDS patients as a painkiller.

On Friday, National Narcotics Agency (BNN) official Brig. Gen. Indradi Thanos said LGN activists should stop their campaign to legalize marijuana because the substance was defined as an illegal addictive drug in the narcotics law. Indradi said the BNN would hold talks with the LGN to determine if there were any vested interests backing them.