Expatriate Tyrel Martin Marhanka, pictured above, killed himself with a pair of scissors in a Taiwanese court room after being sentenced to four years in jail for growing marijuana.
Marhanka, who lived in Taiwan for over 15 years, was nabbed by authorities last April for growing “more than 200 cannabis plants, 195 dried cannabis plants and 10 opium poppies at a rented house in Yongjing Township (永靖), Changhua County.” The man claimed he was growing as “hobby”, but with that amount of cannabis growing, he was probably profiting at least a little bit.
But he certainly wasn’t growing enough to warrant a jail sentence (cause no amount warrants that) nor enough to cause a man to go insane in a court room and result in this horrific scene:
Becoming agitated, he yelled: “I don’t want to live anymore,” took out two metal objects, and with one in each hand stabbed himself on both sides of the neck, severing the arteries, which gushed blood, according to witnesses.
Court officials said Marhanka had smuggled in a pair of 21cm scissors, which he had separated into two sharp metal blades. [Taipei Times]
Marhanka leaves behind a wife and two young kids–all because he grew plant in the wrong continent. Asian countries are notoriously hard on pot offenders, and while four years isn’t the craziest sentence ever doled out, it was clearly enough to make a man kill himself.
If you’re thinking about visiting or residing in Asian countries, don’t think about growing or smoking weed–it’s not accepted behavior over there. Just a month ago, a Malaysian man was hanged for trafficking cannabis.
Hopefully they catch up one day.
h/t Complex