The Star Malaysia

Kids get bags with marijuana leaf pattern

- By MEI MEI CHU meimeichu@thestar.com.my

KUALA SELANGOR: These are not the usual flashy school bags adorned with popular cartoon characters.

In place of Frozen’s Elsa and Anna or Ultraman, these black school bags featured a white marijuana leaf pattern along with the word “stoned” on the front.

The Star spotted a handful of students receiving these bags at a ceramah organised by Minority Action Rights Party (Mira) in Bestari Jaya here yesterday.

They were among the 500 sets of back to school gear distribute­d to help lighten the burden of poor families as the new school term starts.

Other bag designs were ordinary ones with cartoon figures and cartoon cars.

When asked, Mira deputy secretaryg­eneral K. Karthigesu said they were not aware of the marijuana leaf design.

“These bags were donated by Mira members,” he said, adding that there should only be a few bags with the questionab­le design.

Salmiah Ismail, 35, whose eightyearo­ld son received one of the bags with a marijuana leaf pattern, said that she did not recognise the leaf.

“We will use this bag because it is expensive to purchase a brand new school bag,” she said.

In addition to school bags and stationery, Mira assisted 1,000 families to apply for the various welfare programmes under the Selangor state government.

They also gave recognitio­n awards to 100 UPSR and PT3 high achievers.

 ??  ?? Questionab­le motif: The bag that was handed out to a few students at a ceramah in Bestari Jaya, Kuala Selangor.
Questionab­le motif: The bag that was handed out to a few students at a ceramah in Bestari Jaya, Kuala Selangor.

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