Taiwan is experiencing a surge in cannabis smuggling, cultivation and use, Ministry of Justice officials said on Wednesday, warning the public against its use and sale, while reiterating its opposition to calls for decriminalization.
Presenting seized cannabis products for reporters at a ministry briefing, officers from the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s (MJIB) Drug Enforcement Division said that busts for cannabis possession or consumption have escalated in the past decade, from 403 cases in 2014 to 1,477 last year.
The seized total in 2014 came to 59.8kg and increased to 1,117kg last year, MJIB chemical analysis section chief Chyuen San-chung (闕山仲) said.
Photo: CNA
The bureau has also raided 12 large-scale cannabis-growing farms across Taiwan over the past three years, Chyuen said.
“We are seeing more cultivation of cannabis plants at home, and also more smuggling from abroad in recent years,” Chyuen said.
The sharp upsurge is reflected in more raids and higher amounts seized in packages mailed from abroad, with the top three source countries in recent years being from the US, Canada and Thailand, he said.
MJIB held the media briefing ahead of next month’s planned rally by decriminalization advocates from Green Sensation on April 20.
Officials responded to the demands by the advocacy group, providing reasons for maintaining the crackdown.
“The cannabis situation has been growing in the past decade, and has now turned into a major problem for society,” MJIB Director-General Wang Jyun-li (王俊力) said.
Green Sensation members and others have campaigned to decriminalize cannabis for medical use, including broadening the allowance limit on tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other active ingredients to relieve chronic pain.
He said these groups have petitioned the government to increase THC tolerance level to 3,000 paerts per million, on par with the UN’s allowable limit, and to remove cannabis from publicity campaigns against the use of narcotics.
The ministry has convened meetings in the past year with drug experts, enforcement agencies and judicial officials, concluding they were to uphold its current policy of zero tolerance for cannabis, which is a Category 2 narcotics under the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), Wang said.
He cited studies in foreign countries that have shown the negative effects on people who consume cannabis on a regular basis, saying they are afflicted with mental disorders at three times the average rate and experience harmful physical effects.
Wang also said that Taiwan would experience a host of social problems if it allows legal use of cannabis.
Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said that each country has its own sets of issues and social environments, and Taiwan cannot just emulate other countries.
“Right now cannabis is still a controlled substance and we have no plan to permit its recreational use, nor would we have an open policy for consumption,” he said. “The public must not try it, or they will run afoul of the law.”
Green Sensation spokesman Chris Chung (鍾和耘) yesterday said that “ministry officials have in recent years used the media to declare they are ‘waging war against cannabis’ in Taiwan, making claims and citing questionable information to scare the public,” he said.
“Their heavy crackdown has not reduced cannabis use, meaning their strong-handed policy has had no effect. If they continue these efforts, it would only result in more pain and trouble for the public,” he said.
“Cannabis is not the most dangerous drug for people to use, and applying the most severe policies is totally out of proportion to its risks and supposed harmful effects compared to other narcotics,” Chung said.
The US has in the past dealt severe punishments for cannabis use, but its government found it to be a wrong policy and made changes, he said.
Taiwan banned cannabis because it was following in the footsteps of the US, but now US President Joe Biden has issued pardons to thousands of people convicted of cannabis possession and has called on lawmakers to consider a new classification for cannabis, he added.
“Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time that we right these wrongs,” Chung quoted Biden as saying, requesting that the government do the same.
Considering cannabis as among the most dangerous of narcotics was done on a false premise, he said, adding that now is the time to rectify this historic mistake and the unjustified application of the law.
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