Hong Kong Customs will fearlessly pursue cannabidiol products after they become illegal – officially classified as a dangerous drug – on February 1…
Penalties include up to life in prison and HK$5 million (US$638,000) in fines for importing, exporting or producing CBD. Possession of the substance can result in a sentence of up to seven years and HK$1 million (US$128,000) in fines.
Which suddenly reminds me that I bought a pack of CBD gummies out of curiosity a few months ago at a discount food place in Central. So, in the interests of science and/or not being arrested tomorrow, I try them out.
As I suspected: there is no noticeable effect at all. (Some people say the stuff ‘helps them relax’ – but since I am never not relaxed, that’s irrelevant.) This is homeopathic cannabis. You get more of a buzz eating spinach. It belongs in the same category as tree tea oil, aloe vera, coconut water and all the other fads.
In other countries, it might conceivably be considered a legal high; in Hong Kong, it’s an illegal gummy. (Quite nice gummies, by the way.) In a place where you can get arrested for cartoons of sheep or playing a specific tune – and now having jelly candies – who needs drugs to distort your perception of reality?
If the government can’t solve Hong Kong’s real problems (housing shortage, income inequality, the erosion of civil liberties), then clamping down hard on an imaginary problem at least gives the impression that they are doing something.
So if the government are now doubling down on homeopathic remedies as they have nothing better to do, when are they going to start acting on all of the TCM hocus pocus snake oil so-called remedies?
CBD, eh?
The term Central Business District will never be the same again.
And yet the exhortations to Hong Kongers to push nice, positive stories and “edges” for the world continues ALL while erosions of rights, Draconian laws and political persecution ramp up and roll people of all ages under. A bit schizo if you ask me.
Indeed.
The Hong Kong person’s illusion is that he has quality of life with an Alphard, concrete box accommodation, suffocating air and bandit shopkeepers.
And that anyone in the world cares a jot about any of them or their concerns.
Keep it real.
“ A bit schizo if you ask me.”
Indeed. HK authorities deserve nothing but contempt from the international community.
“You get more of a buzz eating spinach.”
You get more of a buzz using a herbal toothpaste I bought in Thailand. The stimulus (not very pleasant) was so strong that I couldn’t use it at night before going to bed.
I can’t remember the name of the brand, but the toothpaste was green in colour and widely available.
@Chinese Netizen
It seems even the exhorters are having a hard time finding any positive Hong Kong stories:
Best they can come up with is “We only lost $202 billion of the Peg fund” to spin the fact that they’ve actually lost $559 billion.
https://www.news.gov.hk/eng/2023/01/20230130/20230130_174436_615.html
On a more positive note, however, the Mainland’s economy may rebound strongly this year with the relaxation of COVID-prevention measures and the introduction of economic stimulus measures.
‘May’ but almost certainly may not.
Speaking of buzz, is betel nut legal in HK these days?
Old Hippies will know:
Dope will get you through times of money better than money will get you through times of no dope.
Frederick B. Freekowski esq. aka Fat Freddy
Speaking of buzz, is betel nut legal in HK these days?
It will be if the ex-policemen ever find out what it is.
Now Cross has resorted to referring to the sad suicide in London
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news/section/11/249373/Move-to-UK-like-jumping-'from-frying-pan-into-fire‘
Like his mates, no mention that every day here in Honkers at least two, and often more, folk jump off tall buildings while others burn charcoal, etc, because they cannot cope with their circumstances and the high cost of living, particularly the costly rent for substandard housing.
I note that Grovelle Cross (apparently a member in his student days of the virulently anti-communist Monday Club) is a K.C.
No doubt his counsel is very much of the type which the King would graciously decline.