KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — DAP’s Wong Hon Wai today urged Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to engage all MPs before tabling in Parliament his proposals to legislate hemp and ketum for medical use.

The Bukit Bendera MP claimed that federal lawmakers, whether from the ruling parties or the Opposition, had not been briefed or consulted on these proposals or for the one to ban the sale of tobacco products to those born after January 1, 2005.

Instead, Wong said he only learnt about it from reading the news.

He said that as an MP, "I feel frustrated whenever the Government [is] rushing through the Bills by tabling legislation on the desk of MPs a day or two before the debate”.

"It has become the norm of the day and it is challenging for MPs to have well articulated debate with facts and figures as we received the Bills at the eleventh hour,” he added.

He stressed that amendments to the laws should not be rushed but looked at carefully due to their impact on society and the economy.

On April 25, Khairy said he will table the proposal to ban the sale of tobacco products, including electronic vapourisers, in Parliament this July as part of the government’s effort to reduce non-communicable diseases.

Several news agencies yesterday reported Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin saying that the Cabinet has no objections to cultivating hemp — a plant in the cannabis family similar to marijuana — and ketum for medical use.