Hong Kong and the detrimental developments going down there have been the topic of many posts in our sister China Regulation Weblog. However now it’s our flip to report on the Aromatic Harbor. Sadly the information can also be dangerous on the hashish entrance, identical to on the political and financial ones.
From February 1 onward, CBD (cannabidiol) will likely be considered a “harmful drug” in Hong Kong, topic the provisions of the Harmful Medicine Ordinance (DDO). Because of this any actions involving CBD will likely be illegal.
In line with the Hong Kong Authorities, “underneath the DDO, trafficking (together with importing and exporting) and illicit manufacturing of CBD is liable to a most penalty of a superb of $5 million [USD 638,000] and life imprisonment.” Sure, you learn that proper. Bringing CBD merchandise into Hong Kong may get you locked up at Shek Pik Jail for good.
To place this in perspective, Hong Kong doesn’t have capital punishment (for now). Because of this a CBD “trafficker” may probably obtain the identical sentence as that of a heroin trafficker, and certainly that of somebody like Henry Chau.
In the meantime, “possession and consumption of CBD in contravention of the DDO will likely be topic to a most penalty of a superb of $1 million [USD 128,000] and imprisonment of seven years.”
Hong Kong’s CBD crackdown is senseless. It will be one factor for the town to easily ban CBD merchandise: In any case, right here in the US many CBD merchandise are illegal on the federal degree. Nevertheless, these CBD merchandise are illegal due to meals and drug security legal guidelines, not as a result of they’re thought-about narcotics.
One purpose introduced by the Hong Kong authorities for lumping CBD with heroin and cocaine is that CBD can naturally decompose or be deliberately transformed into THC. In line with one research, CBD can flip into THC after ingestion. The research, nevertheless, notes that such degradation is unlikely to happen by transdermal supply of CBD, elevating the query of why CBD cosmetics must be thought-about “harmful medicine”. In any case, the phrases “life imprisonment” and “CBD” shouldn’t be utilized in the identical sentence, even within the case of ingestibles.
It’s past the remit of this weblog to delve into Hong Kong politics, although the China Regulation Weblog is actually protecting observe of what’s occurring. It does seem, nevertheless, that China’s tightening maintain over Hong Kong is more and more mirrored within the metropolis’s approaches to regulation enforcement. To make sure, the legalization of leisure and even medical hashish is just not one thing that we ever anticipated to happen anytime quickly in Hong Kong or some other Chinese language territory. But Hong Kong’s wholesale criminalization of CBD is doubtless one of many worst authorized developments we’ve got seen regarding CBD and hashish typically in recent times. It’s unhappy past phrases to see this occurring in a metropolis lengthy characterised for its pragmatic strategy to all method of points.