Fred Rocafort
Hong Kong and the detrimental developments going down there have been the topic of many posts in our sister China Law Blog. However now it’s our flip to report on the Aromatic Harbor. Sadly the information can be dangerous on the hashish entrance, similar to on the political and financial ones.
From February 1 onward, CBD (cannabidiol) can be considered a “harmful drug” in Hong Kong, topic the provisions of the Harmful Medicine Ordinance (DDO). Which means that any actions involving CBD can be illegal.
In keeping 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 tremendous of $5 million [USD 638,000] and life imprisonment.” Sure, you learn that proper. Bringing CBD merchandise into Hong Kong might get you locked up at Shek Pik Jail for good.
To place this in perspective, Hong Kong doesn’t have capital punishment (for now). Which means that a CBD “trafficker” might doubtlessly 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 can be topic to a most penalty of a tremendous of $1 million [USD 128,000] and imprisonment of seven years.”
Hong Kong’s CBD crackdown is senseless. It could be one factor for the town to easily ban CBD merchandise: In any case, right here in america many CBD merchandise are illegal on the federal degree. Nevertheless, these CBD merchandise are illegal due to food and drug safety laws, not as a result of they’re thought of narcotics.
One cause 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 keeping with one examine, CBD can flip into THC after ingestion. The examine, nonetheless, notes that such degradation is unlikely to happen by means of transdermal supply of CBD, elevating the query of why CBD cosmetics needs to be thought of “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 Legislation Weblog is definitely retaining track of what’s taking place. It does seem, nonetheless, that China’s tightening maintain over Hong Kong is more and more mirrored within the metropolis’s approaches to legislation 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 another Chinese language territory. But Hong Kong’s wholesale criminalization of CBD is doubtless one of many worst authorized developments we’ve seen regarding CBD and hashish typically in recent times. It’s unhappy past phrases to see this taking place in a metropolis lengthy characterised for its pragmatic strategy to all method of points.
