Taiwanese independence advocate Lo Yi (羅宜) yesterday denied news reports alleging that he had purchased cannabis, saying he was targeted for vilification because he had confronted Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) over an Olympics name rectification campaign.
Controversy over Lo’s alleged drug use has stirred wide discussion in the media and online, with some people supporting Lo and calling for Taiwan to decriminalize the use of cannabis.
The Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media on Wednesday cited a drug conviction against a man surnamed Chien (簡), who was 29 in 2016 when he was convicted of selling cannabis and LSD to friends.
In a second ruling, Chien received a 12-year prison sentence. A decision on his appeal to the Supreme Court is still pending.
Lo in 2016 allegedly purchased NT$16,000 of cannabis from Chien, as they knew each other while in college, the magazine article said, citing court documents.
Lo denied the allegations, saying that he was never charged and it was “outrageous” for a news report to quote from unverified sources.
Lo last month received media attention after he asked Ko to sign a referendum proposal to change the nation’s name from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taiwan” for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Some netizens said that Lo lost his credibility after being outed as a drug user, while others promoted the legalization of medical and personal use of cannabis, as the world is trending toward decriminalization.
Advocates pointed to a decision by the South African Supreme Court on Tuesday that legalized private use of cannabis.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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