How to push the cannabis agenda in Asia (especially Taiwan)?
Photo by David Gabrić on Unsplash

With the United Nations reclassifying cannabis (https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/12/1079132), it is time for Asian countries and the rest of the world to play the catch-up game.

The problem is, most cannabis activists in this part of the region are still doing it the wrong way.

The best way to promote cannabis in Asia is not through legalization or decriminalization because by fighting against the police and legal establishment, it will create more stigma that will have a counter effect to bring cannabis mainstream. This is particularly true in Asia where most cultures are ultra-conservative and it is still hard to have a serious discussion on cannabis without others asking, “you just want to smoke it right?”.

There is just so much to research to do in the field of cannabis, both in terms of agriculture methods (phytocannabinoid research) and clinical studies on humans (endocannabinoid research including endogenous compounds). Despite early promises, most of the current research on cannabis treatment is far from being a home run. We all know cannabis can do so much more but the best way to move this forward is not just advocating for its recreational/adult-use but through academic research.

This is when Taiwan, the country where I am located in now, is best suited for. Taiwan has tremendous strength, both in terms of industry and academic perspectives, in agriculture which I believe can easily be leveraged for cannabis research. Taiwan also has amazing capabilities in biotech and medicine, both western and Chinese, and therefore ideally suited to research on cannabis too.

All these because, with more research, it means there needs to be a way to grow cannabis; and when there is a way to grow more cannabis, we are breeding a healthy grower market and supply chain. So one day when legalization is here, we will have the best way forward rather than allowing the black market to take advantage and rise unfairly to the top. All in all, we can not let good research wait around for more than 40 years before they can be made available to those in need.

In a way, cannabis is very similar to Chinese medicine (a few decades ago) in terms of both leveraging natural remedies but the historical roots clash with how modern science is being understood. Similar to cannabis, we know Chinese medicines work (for the most part) but it is impossible to make it mainstream without proper research, proper recommended dosages and most important, proper ways to ensure there is a consistent standard (or worse, contaminated). This is perhaps the only downside of natural products, they are never as standardized as things made out of a factory! Nonetheless, testing and standardization in this industry are huge because the implications are even bigger. Imagine with all the CBD products out there, what if some of them are poorly controlled and contain more THC as claimed (we know cannabis crossbreed easily and strength can vary significantly from harvests to harvests), how is that going to affect people taking them and subsequently tested positive in a drug test? How will that change someone’s life and career? Testing for cannabis is not merely quality control but the scope, expertise and implications for the cannabis industry as a whole are enormous. So let’s all learn how Chinese medicines have been marketing and professionalizing itself in the last few decades.

Overall, my deepest concern right now is that we have to address way beyond the decriminalization and legalization of cannabis. We need to talk about regulation; we need to talk about supply chains; we need to talk about how the wealth and benefits will be distributed; we need to talk about imports and exports both with the plants and the associated technologies (has anyone ever wondered what happens if there are international trades on cannabis or its extraction methods?); we need to talk about leveraging state of the art technology and agriculture know-how from other sources; and most of all, we need to talk about how this is going to bring a positive impact to our society. And all need to be grounded in scientific research and testing that our communities have come to accept.
['Leroy Yau']
['Advocacy', 'Taiwan', 'Medical Cannabis', 'United Nations', 'Cannabis']