Protestors on Friday demonstrated in front of the Ministry of Justice in Taipei, after the ministry on Wednesday last week said that telling others that marijuana use is “harmless” may be a criminal offense.
The ministry on Wednesday issued a press release citing stipulations in the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例). Article 7 of the act states that those found “guilty of seducing others to use Category two narcotics” may be sentenced to between one and seven years in prison, and may be fined up to NT$1 million.
Photo: CNA
Since marijuana is classified as a Category 2 narcotic under the act, protestors expressed concern that discussing marijuana use in public or on the internet would be interpreted as “seducing others to use” marijuana.
Zoe Lee (李菁琪), a prominent human rights lawyer who has provided legal advice to people fighting cannabis possession charges, joined Friday’s protest.
“The content of the ministry’s press release has arbitrarily expanded the interpretation of the current regulations on the prevention and control of narcotics hazards,” she said.
“As a result, content creators and other people are afraid to fully express their opinions on marijuana-related issues, and are afraid to even create marijuana-themed works.”
Lee urged the ministry to clarify whether public discussion of marijuana use was legal.
Independent Taipei City Councilor Chiu Wei-chieh (邱威傑), who was also at the protest, compared discussion of marijuana use to that of meat products containing ractopamine – a food additive that promotes the growth of lean meat.
Chiu said that there was previously a lot of public discussion about whether ractopamine – which is used in imported meat products – is harmful to the human body. The government at the time addressed the issue scientifically, he said, saying that scientific discussion of marijuana use should also be permitted.
“Possession and use of marijuana is illegal in Taiwan, but freedom of speech itself should not be illegal. I don’t understand why we can’t discuss the impact of marijuana use on the body,” he said.
‘OBNOXIOUS MAN’: The KMT’s Chen Ching-hui moved into Chung Chia-pin’s path atop the podium and reached for him before he grabbed at her legs with both hands Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) yesterday said he slipped and lost his balance, and did not know who was around him, after jumping onto the speaker’s podium at the legislature in Taipei. He apologized after a collision with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽), who moved to intercept him as he mounted the podium. There was pushing and shoving when the session started in the morning as KMT lawmakers attempted to block access to the podium to shield Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) so he could preside over the session. Video footage showed Chung step on a chair and
Hungarian Member of Parliament Tompos Marton said he considers Taiwan to be a better alternative to China as a strategic partner. Marton, who is the vice president of the opposition Momentum Party, made the remarks in an interview with the Central News Agency on Sunday. He draped a Republic of China flag across his shoulders to protest Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to the capital city, Budapest, on Thursday last week, and openly voiced support for Taiwan on social media. He said in the interview that he wanted to remind the world that there were alternatives to China, and that “Taiwan has
A female physician at New Taipei City’s Shuang Ho Hospital was bullied and made to work for 32 consecutive hours by a senior colleague while pregnant before later having a miscarriage, an internal investigation found, the hospital said on Monday. The perpetrator has been removed from his post, the hospital said. The attending physician in the hospital’s Medical Imaging Department, identified by the pseudonym Y, earlier on Monday told reporters that she had been bullied by a male senior colleague who arranged shifts in her department. In January, shortly after she became pregnant, Y asked the department director if she could avoid overnight
Television presenter Mickey Huang (黃子佼) yesterday was indicted for allegedly possessing sexually explicit videos involving minors. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Huang after the High Prosecutors’ Office found deficiencies in its initial probe and on April 19 returned the case for further investigation. Earlier last month, Huang had been given two years of deferred prosecution. Prosecutors said that they found in their latest investigation that Huang had been a member of the online forum “Chuangyi Sifang” (創意私房) since Feb. 12, 2014. He purchased sexually explicit videos involving minors, and had downloaded images and videos that featured the breasts and sexual organs of young