Harsher punishments are needed to curb the “rising tide of cannabis flooding into the country,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) told a public hearing yesterday, while advocates said that Taiwan should follow the worldwide trend of legalization.
Lai’s legislative office, with support from church groups and family welfare organizations, held a public hearing at the legislature, where people expressed opposition to all forms of cannabis use, calling it “a gateway drug” and warning of its effects on young people.
Cannabis is a Category 2 narcotic according to the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), but “Taiwan is under assault from its increasing consumption and illegal sale,” Lai said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
More people are using vapes or e-cigarettes, which often contain cannabis extracts, he said.
“Another front is the influx of online sales platforms, which are easily accessible by young people,” he said, adding that transactions are difficult to track down.
Many online forums and influencers are promoting the benefits of cannabis, yet no government agency is cracking down on Web sites that advocate its use, Lai said.
“These are worrying trends,” Christian pastor Chen Shang-jen (陳尚仁) said. “The Internet is full of ‘friendly talk’ on cannabis use, but they are giving incorrect medical information. We should demand corrections or remove them.”
Other speakers cited data showing a surge in cannabis use among young people and said their own surveys showed that more than 90 percent of Taiwanese are opposed to decriminalization of the drug.
However, Green Party member Zoe Lee (李菁琪) and others have called the surveys unreliable, saying that they mainly garner responses from churches and conservative groups.
Taiwan Weed Safety Education Association director Chung Ho-yun (鍾和耘) said that harsh repression of cannabis “has failed in the past and will certainly fail in the future.”
“The way forward is to go with the worldwide trend to decriminalize cannabis use, as the UN has done, as well as the US, Germany and many other democratic nations,” Chung said.
Opponents know that policies have been unjust in applying severe punishments for a low-risk substance that has many medical uses to treat terminal illnesses and relieve pain, he said. “These policies have ruined many innocent lives.”
Criminalization “has brought more harm than good to our society,” he said. “Today the worldwide trend is changing, and now Taiwan has the opportunity to take the right steps to open up.”
He accused Lai’s office of not allowing his organization to participate in the event.
“Public policies need input from all sectors of society, especially on contentious issues, but Lai only invited churches and conservative groups with views aligned with his own,” Chung said.
Lai said that the “rising tide” of cannabis use was due to inaction by the government.
He also condemned Constitutional Interpretation No. 790, which says that the punishment for growing cannabis contravened the principle of proportionality.
An amendment was subsequently passed to reduce the penalty to a minimum of one year in prison, down from five years.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
RSS