Bali Prosecutor Seeks 12 Years for Aussie Who Smoked a Joint

By Jeralyn, Section Foreign Affairs
Posted on Fri Apr 03, 2015 at 09:12:00 AM EST
Tags: Bali (all tags)

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In January, I wrote about Nicholas Langan, a 24 year old painter and Australian citizen who went to Bali for a surfing holiday and got arrested for smoking a joint on the beach after dinner. Total amount of pot recovered: Less than 1 gram (about as much as in a packet of Splenda.)

The prosecutor yesterday finalized the charges against Langan, and as anticipated, is asking for a 12 year sentence. (The penalty for simple drug possession in Bali (as opposed to trafficking for which the death penalty is authorized) is 4 to 12 years in prison. (Using drugs carries an additional 5 year penalty.)

Langan, who has been held in a police jail pending the filing of formal charges, will now be moved to Kerobokan, the island's hellhole prison, filled with local murderers, rapists and thieves, in addition to foreign drug offenders. [More...]

Last September, two inmates, including one who was described as a murderer with cannibalistic tendencies, brutally killed another inmate after dragging him from his cell. The murderers will now serve life in prison, while non-violent drug offenders like Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran sit on Indonesia's island of death waiting for the firing squad.

There are beautiful beaches all over the world. Please don't give your tourist dollars to Bali. Visit the Seychelles, Mauritius, the Maldives or Fiji instead.

Boycott Bali.

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Bali Prosecutor Seeks 12 Years for Aussie Who Smoked a Joint | 7 comments (7 topical)

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The Florida keys are very nice right now, (none / 0) (#1)
by fishcamp on Fri Apr 03, 2015 at 07:56:07 AM EST

and even though it's against the law to smoke joints in this state , many do with no penalties. Next time around it will be legal in Florida.

Memorial Day... (none / 0) (#2)
by kdog on Fri Apr 03, 2015 at 09:31:08 AM EST

is right around the corner, and Long Island also has gorgeous beaches, though our water isn't a pretty shade blue like yours.

Our Parks Police that patrol the beaches will lock you up for the same miniscule amount of weed (I'm living proof!), but only if they catch you, and only for a few hours. You just need to partake with your head on a swivel for the cops on ATV's and you'll be all right. Just mind the wind, joints burn fast on the beach.

Sucks Colorado is land-locked! Florida should get on it, for a state so reliant on tourist dollars they could really up their tourism game by becoming Amsterdam on the Atlantic.


: Washington State has ocean beaches. (none / 0) (#3)
by leap on Fri Apr 03, 2015 at 09:42:31 AM EST

The water is kind of cold, though. No, it's really cold. But there are lots of lakes and rivers with beaches. No coconut palm trees.

: I thought NY was now ignoring (none / 0) (#5)
by nycstray on Fri Apr 03, 2015 at 01:39:45 PM EST

small amounts of weed? Just issuing a ticket like CA does(n't)

years of warnings (none / 0) (#4)
by thomas rogan on Fri Apr 03, 2015 at 10:15:50 AM EST

As draconian and unreasonable as Bali's rules are, its attitude towards drugs is also well known. Who is his right mind would smoke a joint on a beach there? What was he thinking?

: He was probably thinking the same way (none / 0) (#9)
by Mr Natural on Fri Apr 03, 2015 at 10:22:51 PM EST

I did at that age. What possible harm to anyone could one little joint be?
What makes this case really sad is that the victim is Australian. If you've ever been to Australia you'd know that their beaches are just as nice. And because Australia is a much larger island, so to speak, it has more of them.
Before I'd read about this b/s, I wouldn't have thought that anything could have been more destructive of the Polynesian/South Sea Island culture than Christian missionaries.
Clearly I was wrong.

: Knowing how draconian and unreasonable (none / 0) (#10)
by lawyerjim on Mon Apr 06, 2015 at 08:16:54 PM EST

Bali's laws are, why does anyone go there for any reason?