Advocates from Green Sensation would tomorrow call for the decriminalization of cannabis, the organization said, adding that conservative religious groups had smeared their campaign and escalated attacks against their cause.
A series of entertainment and music performances are scheduled on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei, next to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from noon tomorrow, with vendors and non-governmental organizations to attend the event.
A large crowd is expected at 4:20pm to march to the legislature, group spokesperson Chung Ho-yun (鍾和耘) said.
Photo: CNA
“Our movement has come under escalating attacks this year, and we have encountered coordinated efforts to smear us, including disinformation and fake news circulating online by conservative religious groups with assistance by pan-blue political forces,” Chung said.
He showed reporters a post on messaging app Line that showed this year’s Green Sensation poster, with the message: “[President] Tsai’s [Ing-wen (蔡英文)] DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] government is sponsoring this ‘cannabis festival’ to encourage all Taiwanese to smoke cannabis... Please circulate widely, so everyone will know that the DPP is poisoning all our citizens. Is this not the same as when the late Manchu Qing Dynasty encouraged people to smoke opium?”
“We condemn such vile tactics to smear us and vilify the government with fake news,” Chung said, adding that the event is organized by advocates of personal liberty and the right to use medical marijuana.
The group raised NT$200,000 earlier this year in a fundraising project to finance the festival, he said.
The calls have also been debunked by MyGoPen, a Web site that combats fake news, Chung said, adding that the festival is entirely organized by activists and civil society groups, and the government has nothing to do with it.
“In fact, the harsh repression of cannabis has been the work of Ministry of Justice officials under the DPP administration,” he added.
The smear campaign and fake news were created by groups such as Common Good Taiwan and the Family Guardian Coalition, and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials disseminated it on social media, Chung said.
“They even tried to shut us down by going to a local police precinct, demanding that they withdraw the permit allowing us to march and use the Ketagalan site,” he said.
However, lawyers fought for their freedom of expression and the right to personal belief, so they did not succeed, he said.
“This shows Taiwan still needs to work on transitional justice, and ease the repression against cannabis, as we have to fight conservative forces all the time,” he added.
This is the fifth year since the event in 2019 began to call for Taiwan to join 420 International Weed Day, Chung said, adding that this year would have a large lineup of Taiwanese entertainers and bands.
“We are asking society and lawmakers to stop the repression of cannabis,” he said.
“We urge for decriminalization, and call on the Ministry of Justice and the courts to stop their so-called ‘war on cannabis’ which targets the younger generation,” Chung said.
Chung called on the government to permit 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol products — which follows regulations in many countries — and to follow the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs’ scrapping of cannabis from its narcotic drugs list in 2020.
The Ministry of Justice and lawmakers should do the same and amend the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), he said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
RSS