Hong Kong to ban CBD products. I remember talking to some grifter who was distributing non-active cannabis-derived energy bars or something, and he blithely said ‘they have no THC in them’, and I obviously thought ‘so what’s the point?’ But as with coconut butter, turmeric, gluten-free flax seeds and other fads, a certain type of gullible neurotic thinks it’s a miracle food.
What are Hong Kong officials thinking? It can’t be plain everyday puritanism because by definition these products are devoid of fun. I guess they just hate the idea…
CBD will be placed in the same category as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and more than 200 other substances deemed as “dangerous drugs,” with users facing a hefty jail term.
(They managed to find 200? And what do the manufacturers do with the left-over THC?)
Some weekend reading…
A China Media Project explanation of what Xi Jinping’s much-vaunted ‘report’ to the CCP Congress was about – in particular, why there was no mention of current events like unemployment, the property market, zero-Covid or Ukraine.
ASPI Strategist on Beijing’s determination to take Taiwan as an ideological construct…
…a critique of Beijing’s Taiwan policy and ideology has become a necessary step. Reducing the future of Taiwan to great-power competition makes it harder to see that Beijing’s Taiwan policy is an ideologically fixated assertion of party power that is disconnected from reality and points China towards potential catastrophe. China is certainly not the first great power to set itself on such a path and there are no easy options for the international community in response, but a clear focus on Beijing’s agency must be the starting point.
HK Free Press op-ed on the Hong Kong part of Xi Jinping’s report…
The vast majority of those arrested during the “chaos” were charged under existing laws with existing offences and dealt with in the regular courts. The contribution of the national security law to the proceedings was to destroy Hong Kong’s flourishing civil society, before the ensuing changes to the election system destroyed its political life.
Also from ASPI, a massive analysis of China’s online propaganda efforts…
The frontier accounts we examine in this report were predominantly created in 2020–21 and feature content that closely hews to CCP narratives, but their less polished presentation has a more authentic feel that conveys a false sense of legitimacy and transparency about China’s frontier regions that party-state media struggle to achieve. For viewers, the video content appears to be the creation of the individual influencers, but is in fact … produced with the help of special influencer-management agencies known as multi-channel networks (MCNs).
A quick example – two ‘sisters’ from Xinjiang – here.
Noahpinion is one of those all-purpose bores who clog up your Twitter timeline, but his article on why Xi isn’t all he’s made out to be is amusing…
Some are saying that Xi’s ascendance represents a return to China’s old imperial system, or a reprise of Mao. But I see something a bit different — a nostalgic Baby Boomer kicking against modernity and yearning for a semi-imagined past greatness.
Not that I’m on board with all the rage over cannabinoids-as-supplements and the such, but I can’t help but think HK is just further shooting itself (willingly?) in the foot and even further distancing itself from the fantastical claim of being “Asia’s World City”. Especially since there is a thriving witch doctor/quackery industry already solidly on-the-ground: TCM.
I am not a health fanatic, and i don’t think CBD stuff is a cure all for anything. But i was in NYC one summer and the bodega was selling non-THC CBD drinks and I drank one thinking it was just a scam. I was tripping out a bit but it definitely put me in a very very calm mood and there was a noticeable mood alteration. They do something to you, for sure.
“What are Hong Kong officials thinking?” They’re Hong Kong officials: thinking is way outside of their remit.
But perhaps Chinese Netizen is on to something — maybe they’ve just been ordered to protect the local mumbo jumbo quackery (in which the CCP Politburo has shares) against the imported mumbo jumbo quackery (in which the CCP Politburo does not).
To the Governments of – – – – and – – – –
“I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool.” – Bertrand Russell
Version 1:
The Virus is in the air,
In lifts, everywhere,
And we admit, it
Is transmitted.
We consent to
Limits, meant to
Make us safer.
You are firm.
Version 2:
It’s time to change
This tiresome range
Of social limits.
We feel like idiots,
Whether defying
Or complying.
They just cause trouble.
You are stubborn.
Version 3:
Covid Zero is a dream.
The numbers seem
To implacably go on,
Whatever is done.
The limits we accepted
Are now rejected.
Pack up your old, blunt tools.
You are pig-headed fools.
Anecdotally I have found CBD to be mood elevating even without THC. But personally I already can access THC products via the informal market. It’s widely available and even legal cannabis products from smuggled from jurisdictions where cannabis is legal are available such as thc gummies and hash oil. But the brain dead officials here only know how to ban: Batman, cbd, books about wolves and sheep, news papers, etc. This place absolutely blows now.
I question if even total morons like Reactor #4 now realise this city is dead.
Re The cancellation of “The Dark Knight”: Seriously HK Gov? A 14yr-old film that most anyone in HK has already seen anyway? And now making such a production of the cancellation that it draws attention to a pathetic, infantile and reactionary government as it’s being covered by the world’s news media?
“Asia’s World City”*
From now on it’s an asterisk motto with * meaning BULLSHIT LIE. Like an athlete that breaks some record but is discovered to have used performance enhancing drugs.
A few months ago I took on-line purchased CBD gummies to address chronic pain after shingles (my doctor only smiled), and after having unsuccessfully tried thousand and thousand of dollars worth of painkillers, acupuncture, cupping, osteopathy….
They gave me a comfortable very, very mild high for bout 30 minutes. Comparable to the effect of a good Sunday Morning rutting. But no effect on pain relief.
So, I guess I will have to look for Thai sticks (a long time ago, I had the last one in Singapore) or something similar.