Activists are taking legal cues from the United States, as well. More than 30 U.S. states allow some form of legal use.
Americans in Taiwan are often surprised to face prison time when caught with small amounts of marijuana for personal use. In April last year, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan sent citizens an advisory citing an "increase in arrests related to marijuana over the last several months" and a reminder that "penalties for possession, use, selling or trafficking of illegal drugs in Taiwan are severe."
Green Sensation intends to hold a series of events over the next year including another mass demonstration to advance its cause. By early 2020, Luo said, Green Sensation plans to approach legislators as well as local city council members to advocate changes in marijuana-related laws.
Slow change
No legislator is keen now on introducing a legalized-marijuana bill, ruling party lawmaker Lee Chun-yi said on Saturday. Taiwanese people in general have expressed little demand for changing the laws, he added.
"I think Taiwan basically is still a bit conservative, so to open that aspect of society now, I think society has no way of accepting it," he said.
However, law enforcement academics and health officials have begun to discuss the laws on marijuana as usage becomes "more severe" over the past few years and authorities hope not to "lose control," said Liao You-lu, a criminal investigation professor at Central Police University in Taiwan.
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Marijuana cases are too numerous now for police to discover all of them, Liao said, as the substance has become an expensive habit for Taiwan's middle class. Health officials still see marijuana as dangerous enough to be regulated, he said.
"Taiwan's situation is still in a state of being controlled, because if you started to permit it, at first it would become extremely serious," Liao said. (VOA)
