Taiwan’s staunchly conservative attitudes towards drugs pose challenge to the burgeoning cannabidiol industry.

Taipei, Taiwan – Joyce Wu was always curious about cannabis.

Wu tried it a few times in Taiwan, where she grew up, but did not like the effects and the added anxiety around using it illegally made the experience less enjoyable. It was only after she came to the United States in 2015 that she felt safe enough to experiment and discovered the relaxing effects that cannabis can have.

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic engulfed the world in uncertainty, Wu found that cannabis was the only thing that helped ease her nerves. She wanted to share its benefits with her friends and family in Taiwan.

“I was reading a lot of news and I wondered if my friends and family in Taiwan will be in the same situation as me,” Wu told Al Jazeera. “I was super anxious. And I wanted to help them and show them that something herbal – not like a medicine – can help them reduce their anxiety.”

In June of that year, Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare released guidance clarifying that cannabidiol (CBD), a compound found in the cannabis plant, is legal in Taiwan for medical and personal use – as long as it contains no more than 10 parts per million (0.001 percent) of THC, the psychoactive compound that gives cannabis users a high.

The caveat: CBD is classified as a pharmaceutical drug in Taiwan, meaning it can only be obtained with a doctor’s prescription. Since there are no domestic pharmaceutical companies that sell CBD products, consumers must buy them abroad or apply to import CBD products from other countries.

[Read More @ AlJazeera]