Officials in China stated that cannabis legalization would not be considered within the country this year. The Commissioner for Narcotics, Ivy Law Chui-mei said that since the legalization of cannabis in Canada back in 2018, the world dynamic has changed. And it hasn’t been for the better. The commissioner went on to say:

“Drugs such as heroin and cocaine are also derived from herbs, so such a saying is misleading. Therefore, the SAR government will not legalize the use of cannabis.”

Since 2018, 12 US States, the Australian Capital Territory, Canada, the country of Georgia, South Africa, and Uruguay have all legalized recreational use cannabis. This additional pressure has led to increased pushback from the Chinese government. There has been a large increase in cannabis users in citizens under the age of 21. The commissioner reported around a 20 percent increase in users. This increase could be from the extended closure of bars and clubs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Outside Pressure

The concern is that cannabis is leading more citizens to turn to other drugs. Many lawmakers still see cannabis as a “gateway” drug despite inconclusive research or research that states the opposite. There has been a large increase in ketamine users by 73 percent within China. This leads officials to be more concerned that an even larger increase in stronger drug use if cannabis is legalized. 

Research on whether or not cannabis is more of a gateway drug or not has begun. Additional research on learning if legalizing cannabis would curb the use of stronger drugs is also underway. However, for now the Chinese government has stated that cannabis will remain illegal despite the pressure to change.

If there are any changes in this story, we will update this article as it becomes available.

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