The Ministry of Justice on Saturday reaffirmed the government’s strong opposition to legalizing cannabis, after a demonstration called for its decriminalization.
Wave Green, a cannabis decriminalization advocacy group, marched on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building, urging the ministry to “end the war against cannabis” and “clear the stigma” associated with the plant.
The ministry said that the legal status of cannabis is aimed at maintaining public health, safety and stability.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
It cited the UN 2021 World Drug Report as evidence that the long-term and regular use of cannabis harms people’s health.
As many countries in the world maintain bans on cannabis, Taiwan’s policy is in line with the international community, the justice ministry said.
An panel of neurologists, pharmacologists and toxicologists said that cannabis is “addictive” and can damage the central nervous system, the ministry said.
The panel’s conclusions led to the government classification of cannabis as a category 2 narcotic — along with opium poppy, coca, amphetamines, pethidine and pentazocine — in the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), it said.
Category 1 narcotics include heroin, morphine, processed opium, cocaine and their derivative products.
Under the act, a person convicted of using cannabis “shall be punished with a maximum three-year fixed-term imprisonment.”
Those who manufacture, transport or sell cannabis are subject to life imprisonment or a minimum 10-year fixed term imprisonment, and can also be fined up to NT$15 million (US$492,368).
The act also says that people who are found guilty of possession with the intent to sell cannabis could be punished with a jail term of five years or longer, and might also be fined up to NT$5 million.
The justice ministry urged people not to contravene the law as prosecutors and police have intensified their efforts to crack down against cannabis use.
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